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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



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8 



ept< iber, 1898. 

alter. 




The Bible Institute 
Col portage Association, 

Chicago. 







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(D. L. Moody, President,) 
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! 



Anecdotes 
Illustrations and Incidents 






BY 




/7 



If 



Chicago 

The Bible Institute Colportage Association 

250 La Salle Avenue 






18389 



Copyright, 1898, by The Bible Institute Colportage Association, 



COPIES DECEIVED- 




', 



VAVW^OcrvM* 



PREFACE 



When I was preaching in Baltimore in 1879, an infidel 
reporter, who believed I was a humbug, came to the 
meetings with the express purpose of catching me in my 
remarks. He believed that my stories and anecdotes 
were all made up, and he intended to expose me in his 
paper. 

One of the anecdotes I told was as follows: 

A gentleman was walking down the streets of a city 
some time before. It was near Christmas-time, and 
many of the shop windows were filled with Christmas 
presents and toys. As this gentleman passed along, he 
saw three little girls standing before a shop window. 
Two of them were trying to describe to the third the 
things that were in the window. It aroused his atten- 
tion, and he wondered what it could mean. He went 
back, and found that the middle one was blind — she had 
never been able to see — and her two sisters were 
endeavoring to tell her how the things looked. The 
gentleman stood beside them for some time and listened; 
he said it was most interesting to hear them trying to 
describe the different articles to the blind child — they 
found it a difficult task. 

''That is just my position in trying to tell other men 
about Christ," I said; "I may talk about Him; and yet 
they see no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. 

5 



6 PREFACE 

But if they will only come to Him, He will open their 
eyes and reveal Himself to them in all His loveliness and 
grace. " 

After the meeting this reporter came to me and asked 
where I got that story. I said I had read it in a Boston 
paper. He told me that it had happened right there in 
the streets of Baltimore, and that he was the gentleman 
referred to! It made such an impression on him that he 
accepted Christ and became one of the first converts in 
that city. 

Many and many a time I have found that when the 
sermon — and even the text — has been forgotten, some 
story has fastened itself in a hearer's mind, and has 
borne fruit. Anecdotes are like windows to let light in 
upon a subject. They have a useful ministry, and I pray 
God to bless this collection to every reader. 



^(favzfy 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS .iND 
ILLUSTRATIONS 



Wanted— A New Song! 

There was a Wesleyan preacher in England, Peter 
Mackenzie, full of native humor, a most godly man. He 
was once preaching from the text: "And They Sang a 
New Song," and he said: 

"Yes, there will be singing in heaven, and when I get 
there I will want to have David with his harp, and Paul, 
and Peter and other saints gather around for a sing. 
And 1 will announce a hymn from the Wesleyan Hymnal. 
'Let us sing hymn No. 749 — ' 

My God, my Father, while I stray — 

"But some one will say, 'That won't do. You are in 
heaven, Peter; there's no straying here. J And I will 
say, 'Yes, that's so. Let us sing No. 651 — ' 

Though waves and storms go o'er my head, 
Though friends be gone and hopes be dead — 

"But another saint will interrupt, 'Peter, you forget 
you are in heaven now; there are no storms here.' 
'Well, I will try again, No. 536 — ' 

Into a world of ruffians sent — 
'Peter! Peter!' some one will say, 'we will put 
you out unless you stop giving out inappropriate hymns.' 
I will ask — what can we sing? And they will all say: 

' 'Sing the new song, the song of Moses and the 
Lamb.' " 



8 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Nothing to Hold On To 

It is related of an atheist who was dying that he 
appeared very uncomfortable, very unhappy and fright- 
ened. Another atheist who stood at his bedside said to 
him: 

"Don't be afraid. Hold on, man, hold on to the last." 
The dying man said: "That is what I want to do, but 
tell me what to hold on to?" 

What Could the King Do? 

In the second century they brought a Christian before 
a king, who wanted him to recant and give up Christ and 
Christianity, but the man spurned the proposition. But 
the king said: 

"If you don't do it, I will banish you." 

The man smiled and answered, "You can't banish 
me from Christ, for He says He will never leave me nor 
forsake me." 

The king got angry, and said-: "Well, I will confis- 
cate your property and take it all from you." 

And the man replied: "My treasures are laid up on 
high; you cannot get them." 

The king became still more angry, and said: "I will 
kill you." 

" Why," the man answered, "I have been dead forty 
years; I have been dead with Christ, dead to the world, 
and my life is hid with Christ in God, and you cannot 
touch it." 

"What are you going to do with such a fanatic?" 
said the king! 

Always Praising 
A man was converted some years ago, and he was 
just full of praise. He was living in the light all the 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



time. He used to preface everything he said in the 
meeting with " Praise God!" 

One night he came to the meeting with his finger all 
bound up. He had cut it, and cut it pretty bad, too. 
Well, I wondered how he would praise God for this; but 
he got up and said: 

" I have cut my finger, but, praise God, I didn't cut 
it off!" 

If things go against you, just remember they might 
be a good deal worse. 

Not at all Absurd 

A man said to me some time ago, " Moody, the doc- 
trine you preach is most absurd: you preach that men 
have only to believe to change the whole course of their 
life. A man will not change his course by simply be- 
lieving." 

I said — "I think I can make you believe that in less 
than two minutes." 

s 'No, you can't," he said; "I'll never believe it." 

I said, "Let us make sure that we understand each 
other. You say a man is not affected by what he 
believes, that it will not change the course of his actions?" 

"I do." 

"Supposing," I said, "a man should put his head in 
at that door and say the house was on fire, what would 
you do? You would get out by the window if you believed 
it, wouldn't you?" 

"Oh," he replied, "I didn't think of that!" 

"No," I said, "I guess you didn't." 

Belief is the foundation of all society, of commerce, 
and of everything else. 



io ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Not Too Great for Caesar 

It is said that on one occasion when Caesar gave a 
very valuable present, the receiver replied that it was 
too costly a gift. The Emperor answered that it was 
not too great for Caesar to give. 

Our God is a great King, and He delights to give 
gifts to us: so let us delight to ask Him for great things. 

A Good Samaritan 

I remember the first good Samaritan I ever saw. I 
had been in this world only three or four years when my 
father died a bankrupt, and the creditors came and swept 
away about everything we had. My widow mother had 
a cow and a few things, and it was a hard struggle to 
keep the wolf from the door. My brother went to Green- 
field, and secured work in a store for his board, and went 
to school. It was so lonely there that he wanted me to 
get a place so as to be with him, but I didn't want to 
leave home. One cold day in November my brother 
came home and said he had a place for me. I said that 
I wouldn't go, but after it was talked over they decided 
I should go. I didn't want my brothers to know that I 
hadn't the courage to go, but that night was a long one. 

The next morning we started. We went up on the 
hill, and had a last sight of the old house. We sat down 
there and cried. I thought that would be the last time 
I should ever see that old home. I cried all the way 
down to Greenfield. There my brother introduced me 
to an old man who was so old he couldn't milk his cows 
and do the chores, so I was to do his errands, milk his 
cows and go to school. I looked at the old man and 
saw he was cross. I took a good look at the wife and 
thought she was crosser than the old man. I stayed 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS II 

there an hour and it seemed like a week. I went around 
then to my brother and said: 

"I am going home." 

"What are you going home for?" 

"I am homesick," I said. 

"Oh well, you will get over it in a few days." 

"I never will," I said. "I don't want to." 

He said, "You will get lost if you start for home now; 
it is getting dark." 

I was frightened then, as I was only about ten years 
old, and I said, "I will go at daybreak to-morrow 
morning. " 

He took me to a shop window, where they had some 
jackknives and other things, and tried to divert my 
mind. What did I care for those old jackknives? I 
wanted to get back home to my mother and brothers; it 
seemed as if my heart was breaking. 

All at once my brother said, "Dwight, there comes a 
man that will give you a cent." 

"How do you know he will?" I asked. 

"Oh! he gives every new boy that comes to town a 
cent." 

I brushed away the tears, for I wouldn't have him see 
me crying, and I got right in the middle of the sidewalk, 
where he couldn't help but see me, and kept my eyes 
right upon him. I remember how that old man looked as 
he came tottering down the sidewalk. Oh, such a bright, 
cheerful, sunny face he had ! When he came opposite to 
where I was he stopped, took my hat off, put his hand 
on my head, and said to my brother: 

"This is a new boy in town, isn't it?" 

"Yes, sir, he is; just came to-day." 

I watched to see if he would put his hand into his 



I2 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

pocket. I was thinking of that cent. He began to talk 
to me so kindly that I forgot all about it. He told me 
that God had an only Son, and He sent Him down here, 
and wicked men killed Him, and he said He died for me. 
He only talked five minutes, but he took me captive. 
After he had given me this little talk, he put his hand in 
his pocket and took out a brand new cent, a copper that 
looked just like gold. He gave me that; I thought it 
was gold, and didn't I hold it tight! I never felt so 
rich before or since. I don't know what became of that 
cent; I have always regretted that I didn't keep it; but 
I can feel the pressure of the old man's hand on my head 
to-day. . Fifty years have rolled away, and I can hear 
those kind words ringing yet. I never shall -forget that 
act. He put the money at usury; that cent has cost 
me a great many dollars. I have never walked up the 
streets of this country or the old country but down into 
my pocket goes my hand, and I take out some money 
and give it to every forlorn, miserable child I see. I 
think how the old man lifted a load from me, and I want 
to lift a load from some one else. 

Do you want to be like Christ? Go and find some one 
who has fallen, and get your arm under him, and lift 
him up toward heaven. The Lord will bless you in the 
very act. May God help us to go and do like the good 
Samaritan ! 

Covetous Till Death 

An English clergyman was called to the death-bed of 
a wealthy parishioner. Kneeling beside the dying man 
the pastor asked him to take his hand as he prayed for 
his upholding in that solemn hour, but he declined to 
give it. After the end had come, and they turned down 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



J 3 



the coverlet, the rigid hands were found holding the safe- 
key in their death-grip. Heart and hand, to the last, 
clinging to his possessions, but he could not take them 
with him. 

He Had his Eyes Opened 

The story is told of a boy whose parents took him to 
Florida to spend the winter. He returned to his city 
home, disgusted with the country he had been in. It 
was dull, stupid, and uninteresting, he said. During 
the next few months, however, he was in charge of a 
tutor who was an enthusiastic botanist, and he kindled 
the boy's interest in his favorite study. The boy learned 
about orchids, and their strange life. His tutor took 
him to a conservatory that he might see some of them 
growing. 

"You should see them in Florida," the tutor said, 
"they are much better there; but these will give you an 
idea." 

The boy looked at him in amazement. 
"I have been in Florida," he said, "but I never 
noticed any of them." 

"Perhaps you did not look for them," the tutor 
answered ; "but they will not escape you the next time. " • 

That is often the way with the Bible. A person 
sees no beauty in it, but the Holy Spirit is ready to 
open the eyes of our understanding and teach us. It 
may be by some sermon or book which will lift a truth 
out of its hiding-place, and give it an application to our 
life it never had before. 

A True Proverb 

An Arab proverb runs thus:' "The neck is bent by 
the sword, but heart is only bent by heart." Love is 
irresistible. 



Izj. ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Are You Seeking Rest? 

A lady in Wales told me this little story: An English 
friend of hers, a mother, had a child that was sick. At 
first they considered there was no danger, until one day 
the doctor came in and said that the symptoms were very 
unfavorable. He took the mother out of the room, and 
told her that the child could not live. It came like 
a thunderbolt. After the doctor had gone the mother 
went into the room where the child lay and began to talk 
to the child, and tried to divert its mind. 

"Darling, do you know you will soon hear the music 
of heaven? You will hear a sweeter song than you have 
ever heard on earth. You will hear them sing the song 
of Moses and the Lamb. You are very fond of music. 
Won't it be sweet, darling?" 

And the little tired, sick child turned its head away, 
and said, "Oh, mamma, I am so tired and so sick that I 
think it would make me worse to hear all that music." 

"Well," the mother said, "you will soon see Jesus. 
You will see the seraphim and cherubim and the streets 
all paved with gold"; and she went on picturing heaven 
as it is described in Revelation. 

The little tired child again turned its head away, and 
said, "Oh, mamma, I am so tired that I think it would 
make me worse to see all those beautiful things!" 

At last the mother took the child up in her arms, and 
pressed her to her loving heart. And the little sick one 
whispered: 

"Oh, mamma, that is what I want. If Jesus will only 
take me in His arms and let me rest!" 

Dear friend, are you not tired and weary of sin? Are 
you not weary of the turmoil of life? You can find rest 
on the bosom of the Son of God. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



15 



Humility 

Some years ago I saw what is called a sensitive plant. 
I happened to breathe on it, and suddenly it drooped its 
head; I touched it, and it withered away. Humility is 
as sensitive as that; it cannot safely be brought out on 
exhibition. A man who is flattering himself that he is 
humble and is walking close to the Master, is self- 
deceived. It consists not in thinking meanly of our- 
selves, but in not thinking of ourselves at all. Moses 
wist not that his face shone. If humility speaks of itself, 
it is gone. 

A New Man in Old Clothes 

A man got up in one of our meetings in New York 
some years ago, who had been pretty far down, but a 
wonderful change had taken place, and he said he hardly 
knew himself. He said the fact was, he was a new man 
in his old clothes. 

That was just it. Not a man in new clothes, but a 
new man in old clothes. 

I saw an advertisement which read like this: "If you 
want people to respect you, wear good clothes." That 
is the world's idea of getting the world's respect. Why! 
A leper may put on good clothes, but he is a leper still. 
Mere profession doesn't transform a man. It is the new 
nature spoken of in 2d Corinthians, 5th chapter, 17th 
verse, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things 
are become new." 

Proud of Their False Religions 
I do not believe there is any false religion in the 
world that men are not proud of. The only religion 
of which I have ever heard, that men were ashamed of, 



16 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

is the religion of Jesus Christ. Some time ago I preached 
two weeks in Salt Lake City, and I did not find a Mor- 
mon that was not proud of his religion. When I came 
within forty miles of Salt Lake City, the engineer came 
into the car and wanted to know if I wouldn't like to 
ride on the engine. I went with him, and in that forty 
mile ride he talked Mormonism to me the whole time, 
and tried to convert me so that I would not preach 
against the Mormons. I never met an unconverted 
Chinaman who wasn't proud of being a disciple of Con- 
fucius; and I never met a Mohammedan who wasn't 
proud of the fact that he was a follower of Mohammed; 
but how many, many times I have found men ashamed 
of the religion of Jesus Christ, the only religion that 
gives men the power over their affections and lusts and 
sins. If there was some back-door by which men could 
slip into heaven, there would be a great many who would 
want to enter it, but they don't like to make public 
confession. 

This is Our Hope 

A bright young girl of fifteen was suddenly cast upon 
a bed of suffering, completely paralyzed on one side and 
nearly blind. She heard the family doctor say to her 
parents as they stood by the bedside — 

"She has seen her best days, poor child!" 

"No, doctor," she exclaimed, "my best days are yet 
to come, when I shall see the King in His beauty." 

That is our hope. We shall not sink into annihilation. 
Christ rose from the dead to give us a pledge of our own 
rising. The resurrection is the great antidote for fear of 
death. Nothing else can take its place. Riches, genius, 
worldly pleasures or pursuits, none can bring us consola- 
tion in the dying hour. "All my possessions for a mo- 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



*7 



ment of time," cried Queen Elizabeth, when dying. 
t4 I have provided in the course of my life for everything 
except death, and now, alas! I am to die unprepared/' 
were the last words (5f Cardinal Borgia. Compare with 
these the last words of one of the early disciples: "I am 
weary. I will now go to sleep. Good night!" He had 
the sure hope of awaking in a brighter land. 

The Blind Man and the Lantern 

I remember reading of a blind man who was found 
sitting at the corner of a street in a great city with a 
lantern beside him. Some one went up to him and 
asked what he had the lantern there for, seeing that he 
was blind, and the light was the same to him as the 
darkness. The blind man replied: 

"I have it so that no one may stumble over me." 
Dear friends, let us think of that. Where one man 
reads the Bible, a hundred read you and me. That is 
what Paul meant when he said we were to be "living 
epistles of Christ, known and read of all men." I would 
not give much for all that can be done by sermons, if 
we do not preach Christ by our lives. If we do not 
commend the Gospel to people by our holy walk and 
conversation, we shall not win them to Christ. 

How Prophecy is Fulfilled 

Dr. Cyrus Hamlin tells the following story. While 
he was in Constantinople soon after the Crimean War, a 
colonel in the Turkish army called to see him, and said: 

44 1 want to ask you one question. What proof can 
you give me that the Bible is what you claim it to be — 
the word of God?" 

Dr. Hamlin evaded the question, and drew him into 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



conversation, during which he learned that his visitor 
had traveled a great deal, especially in the East in the 
region of the Euphrates. 

"Were you ever in Babylon?" asked the doctor. 

"Yes, and that reminds me of a curious experience I 
had there. . I am very fond of sport, and having heard 
that the ruins of Babylon abound in game, I determined 
to go there for a week's shooting. Knowing that it was 
not considered safe for a man to be there except in the 
company of several others — and money being no object 
to me — I engaged a sheik with his followers to accompany 
me for a large sum. We reached Babylon and pitched 
our tents. A little before sundown I took my gun and 
strolled out to have a look around. The holes and 
caverns among the mounds which cover the ruins are 
infested with game, which, however, is rarely seen except 
at night. I caught sight of one or two animals in the 
distance, and then turned my steps toward our encamp- 
ment, intending to begin my sport as soon as the sun 
had set. What was my surprise to find the men striking 
the tents! I went to the sheik and protested most 
strongly. I had engaged him for a week, and was pay- 
ing him handsomely, and here he was starting off before 
our contract had scarcely begun. Nothing I could say, 
however, would induce him to remain. 'It isn't safe,' 
he said. 'No mortal flesh dare stay here after sunset. 
In the dark ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and all sorts of 
things come out of the holes and caverns and whoever is 
found here is taken off by them and becomes one of them- 
selves. ' Finding that I could not persuade him, I said, 
'Well, as it is I'm paying you more than I ought to, but 
if you'll stay I'll double it.' 'No,' he said, 'I couldn't 



! 

AND ILLUSTRATIONS 19 

stay for all the money in the world. No Arab has ever 
seen the sun go down on Babylon. But I want to do what 
is right by you. We'll go off to a place about an hour 
distant and come back at daybreak.' And go they did. 
And my sport had to be given up." 

44 As soon as he had finished," said Dr. Hamlin, <4 I 
took my Bible and read from it the 13th chapter of Isaiah : 
4 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew 
Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, 
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to genera- 
tion; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither 
shall the shepherds make their fold there: but wild 
beasts of the desert shall lie there: and their houses 
shall be full of doleful creatures: and owls shall dwell 
there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild 
beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, 
and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is 
near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.' " 

44 That's it exactly," said the Turk when I had fin- 
ished, "but that's history you've been reading." 

44 No," answered Dr. Hamlin, 44 it's prophecy. Come, 
you're an educated man. You know that the Old Testa- 
ment was translated into Greek about three hundred 
years before Christ." He acknowledged that it was. 
44 And the Hebrew was given at least two hundred years 
before that?" 44 Yes. " 44 Well, wasn't this written when 
Babylon was in its glory, and isn't it prophecy?" 

44 I'm not prepared to give you an answer now," he 
replied. 44 I must have time to think it over." 

44 Very well," Dr. Hamlin said, "Do so, and come 
back when you're ready and give me your answer." 



20 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

From that day to this he had never seen him, but 
what an unexpected testimony to the truth of the Bible 
in regard to the fulfillment of prophecy did that Turkish 
officer give! 

The Devil Knew He Could Wait 

There is a story of an old Christian slave in the South 
whose master was an infidel. One day the master went 
duck-shooting with his slave, and turning on him sud- 
denly, he said: 

"How is it, uncle, that the devil never tempts me, 
and always worries you? Why should he tempt a 
Christian more than an infidel?" 

Before the slave could find an answer, a flock of 
ducks came within range and the master fired into them. 
He then directed the slave to make haste to secure the 
wounded birds first, and let those that were dead wait 
till last. When the slave returned to his master he had 
found his answer: 

"You see, massa, I reckon it is this way about the 
devil. He thinks I'm only a poor, wounded soul that 
he wants to make sure of first, but you are surely his, 
and so you can wait." 

There was a great deal of theology in the old man's 
reasoning. When a man is truly born of God, it seems 
as if every influence of evil is arrayed against him, and 
unless the work is genuine he will not stand. I know 
of a certain temperance lecturer who was once a poor, 
wretched driinkard. A short time after his conversion 
he was asked to speak in his native town, and when he 
came on the stage it was found that liquor had been 
sprinkled about the floor in order that its fumes might 
tempt him to drink again. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 21 

That Ladder a Dream 

A man dreamt that he built a ladder from earth to 
heaven, and when he did a good deed up went his ladder 
a few feet. When he did a very good deed his ladder 
went higher, and when he" gave away large sums of money 
to the poor up it went further still. By and by it went 
out of sight, and as years rolled on, it went up, he 
thought, past the clouds, clear into heaven. When he 
died he thought he would step off his ladder into heaven, 
but he heard a voice roll out from paradise: 

l4 He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a 
thief and a robber." 

Down he came, ladder and all, and he awoke. He 
said if he wanted to get salvation he must get it in an- 
other way than by good deeds, and he took the other 
way, which is by Jesus Christ. 

The Arrow Hit the Mark 

A society was some years ago established to distribute 
tracts by mail in the higher circles. One of these tracts, 
entitled, "Prepare to meet thy God," was enclosed in 
an envelope, and sent by post to a gentleman well known 
for his ungodly life and his reckless impiety. He was in 
his study when he read this letter among others. 

"What's that?" said he. " 'Prepare to meet thy 
God. ' Who has had the impudence to send me this 
cant?" And, with an imprecation on his unknown corres- 
pondent, he arose to put the paper in the fire. 

"No; I won't do that," he said to himself. "On 
second thoughts, I know what I will do. I'll send it to 

my friend B ; it will be a good joke to hear what 

he'll say about it. " 

So saying, he enclosed the tract in a fresh envelope, 



22 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

and in a feigned hand directed it to his boon com- 
panion. 

Mr. B was a man of his own stamp, and received 

the tract, as his friend had done, with an oath at the 
Methodist humbug; and his first impulse was to tear 
in pieces. "I'll not tear it either," said he to himself. 
" Prepare to meet thy God" at once arrested his atten- 
tion and smote his conscience. The arrow of convic- 
tion entered his heart as he read, and he was converted. 

Almost his first thought was for his ungodly associ- 
ates. "Have I received such blessed light and truth, 
and shall I not strive to communicate it to others?" 
He again folded the tract, and enclosed and directed it 
to one of his companions in sin. Wonderful to say, the 
little arrow hit the mark. His friend read. He also was 
converted ; and both are now walking as the Lord's 
redeemed ones. 

Is There Anything to Cultivate? 

We hear nowadays so much about "culture. " Culture's 
all right when you have something to cultivate. If I 
should plant a watch, I shouldn't get any little watches, 
would I? Why? Because the seed of life is not there. 
But let me plant some peas or potatoes, and I will get a 
crop. 

Don't let any man or woman rest short of being born 
of the Spirit of God. First make sure that you have 
that divine nature, then cultivate it. 

For Parents 

Whenever I speak to parents, two fathers come before 
me. One lived on the Mississippi River. He was a man 
of great wealth. One day his eldest boy had been borne 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 23 

home unconscious. They did everything that man could 
do to restore him, but in vain. Time passed, and after 
a terrible suspense he recovered consciousness. 

"My son," the father whispered, "the doctor tells 
me you are dying." 

"Oh!" said the boy,"you never prayed forme, father; 
won't you pray for my lost soul now?" 

The father wept. It was true he had never prayed. 
He was a stranger to God. And in a little while that 
soul, unprayed for, passed into its dark eternity. 

The father has since said that he would give all his 
wealth if he could call back his boy only to offer one 
short prayer for him. 

What a contrast is the other father! He, too, had a 
lovely son, and one day he came home to find him at 
the gates of death. His wife was weeping, and she 
said: 

1 ' Our boy is dying ; he has had a change for the worse. 
I wish you would go in and see him." 

The father went into the room and placed his hand 
upon the brow of his dying boy, and could feel the cold, 
damp sweat was gathering there; the cold, icy hand of 
death was feeling for the chords of life. 

"Do you know, my son, that you are dying?" asked 
the father. 

"Am I? Is this death? Do you really think I am 
dying?" 

"Yes, my son, your end on earth is near." 

"And will I be with Jesus to-night, father?" 

"Yes, you will soon be with the Savior. " 

"Father, don't weep, for when I get there I will go 
straight to Jesus and tell him that you have been trying 
all my life to lead me to Him," 



2 4 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



God has given me three children, and ever since I can 
remember I have directed them to Christ. I would 
rather they carried this message to Jesus — that I had 
tried all my life to lead them to Him — than have all the 
crowns of the earth; I would rather lead them to Jesus 
than give them the wealth ot the world. 

How I Came to Give Up Business 

The way God led me out of business into Christian 
work was as follows: 

I had never lost sight of Jesus Christ since the first 
night I met Him in the store at Boston. But for years 
I was only a nominal Christian, really believing that I 
could not work for God. No one had ever asked me to 
do anything. 

When I went to Chicago, I hired five pews in a church, 
and used to go out on the street, and pick up young men, 
and fill these pews. I never spoke to those young men 
about their souls; that was the work of the elders, I 
thought. After working for some time like that, I 
started a mission Sabbath school. I thought numbers 
were everything, and so I worked for numbers. When 
the attendance ran below one thousand, it troubled me; 
and when it ran to twelve or fifteen hundred, I was 
elated. Still none were converted; there was no harvest. 
Then God opened my eyes. 

There was a class of young ladies in the school, who 
were without exception the most frivolous set of girls I 
ever met. One Sunday the teacher was ill, and I took 
that class. They laughed in my face, and I felt like 
opening the door and telling them all to get out and 
never come back. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 25 

That week the teacher of the class came into the store 
where I worked. He was pale, and looked very ill. 

44 What is the trouble?" I asked. 

"I have had another hemorrhage of my lungs. The 
doctor says I cannot live on Lake Michigan, so I am 
going to New York State. I suppose I am going home 
to die." 

He seemed greatly troubled, and when I asked him 
the reason, he replied: 

11 Well, I have never led any of my class to Christ. I 
really believe I have done the girls more harm than 
good. " 

I had never heard any one talk like that before, and it 
set me thinking. 

After a while I said: fc< Suppose you go and tell them 
how you feel. I will go with you in a carriage, if you 
want to go. " 

He consented, and we started out together. It was 
one of the best journeys I ever had on earth. We went 
to the house of one of the girls, called for her, and the 
teacher talked to her about her soul. There was no 
laughing then! Tears stood in her eyes before long. 
After he had explained the way of life, he suggested 
that we have prayer. He asked me to pray. True, I 
had never done such a thing in my life as to pray God to 
convert a young lady there and then. But we prayed, 
and God answered our prayer. 

We went to other houses. He would go upstairs, and 
be all out of breath, and he would tell the girls what he 
had come for. It wasn't long before they broke down, 
and sought salvation. 

When his strength gave out, I took him back to his 
lodgings. The next day we went out again. At the end 



26 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

of ten days he came to the store with his face literally 
shining. 

"Mr. Moody," he said, "the last one of my class has 
yielded herself to Christ." 

I tell you, we had a time of rejoicing. 

He had to leave the next night, so I called his class 
together that night for a prayer-meeting, and there God 
kindled a fire in my soul that has never gone out. The 
height of my ambition had been to be a successful mer- 
chant, and if I had known that meeting was going to 
take that ambition out of me, I might not have gone. 
But how many times I have thanked God since for that 
meeting! 

The dying teacher sat in the midst of his class, and 
talked with them, and read the 14th chapter of John. 
We tried to sing "Blest be the tie that binds," after 
which we knelt down to prayer. I was just rising from 
my knees, when one of the class began to pray for her 
dying teacher. Another prayed, and another, and be- 
fore we rose, the whole class had prayed, As I went 
out I said to myself: 

"Oh, God, let me die rather than lose the blessing I 
have received to-night!" 

The next evening I went to the depot to say good-bye 
to that teacher. Just before the train started, one of 
the class came, and before long, without any prearrange- 
ment, they were all there. What a meeting that was! 
We tried to sing, but we broke down. The last we saw 
of that dying teacher, he was standing on the platform 
of the car, his finger pointing upward, telling that class 
to meet him in heaven. 

I didn't know what this was going to cost me. I was 
disqualified for business; it had become distasteful to 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



2 7 



me. I had got a taste of another world, and cared no 
more for making money. For some days after, the 
greatest struggle of my life took place. Should I give 
up business and give myself to Christian work, or should 
I not? I have never regretted my choice. Oh, the 
luxury of leading some one out of the darkness of this 
world into the glorious light and liberty of the Gospel ! 

"Mind Your Own Business!" 

One night in Chicago, many years ago, when I was 
on my way home I saw a man leaning against a lamp- 
post. Stepping up to him and placing my hand on his 
shoulder, I said: 

"Are you a Christian?" 

The man flew into a rage, doubled up his fist and I 
thought he was going to pitch me into the gutter. 

I said: "I'm very sorry if I've offended you, but I 
thought I was asking a proper question/' 

"Mind your own business," he roared. 

"That is my business," I answered. 

About three months later, on a bitter cold morning 
about daybreak, some one knocked at my door. 

"Who's there!" I asked. 

A stranger answered, and I said: "What do you 
want?" 

"I want to become a Christian," was the reply. 

I opened the door, and to my astonishment there was 
the man who had cursed me for talking to him as he 
leaned against the lamppost. 

He said: "I'm very sorry. I haven't had any peace 
since that night. Your words have haunted and troubled 
me. I couldn't sleep last night, and I thought I'd come 
and get you to pray for me." 



28 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

That man accepted Christ, and the moment he had 
done so, asked: 

"What can I do for Him?" 

He taught in the Sabbath school until the war broke 
out, when he enlisted, and was one of the first to be shot 
down, but not before he had given a ringing testimony 
for God. 

The Others Were Sorry 

A Sunday school teacher wished to show his class 
how free the gift of God is. He took a silver watch 
from his pocket and offered it to the eldest boy in the 
class. 

"It's yours, if you will take it." 

The little fellow sat and grinned at the teacher. He 
thought he was joking. The teacher offered it to the 
next boy, and said: 

"Take that watch: it is yours." 

The little fellow thought he would be laughed at if 
he held out his hand, and therefore he sat still. In the 
same way the teacher went nearly round the class; but 
not one of them would accept the proffered gift. At 
length he came to the smallest boy. When the watch 
was offered to the little fellow, he took it and put it into 
his pocket. All the class laughed at him. 

"I am thankful, my boy," said the teacher, "that you 
believe my word. The watch is yours. Take good care 
of it. Wind it up every night." 

The rest of the class looked on in amazement; and 
one of them said: "Teacher, you don't mean that the 
watch is his? You don't mean that he hasn't to give it 
back to you?" 

"No," said the teacher, "he hasn't to give it back to 
me. It is his own now." 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



29 



"Oh — h — h! if I had only known that, wouldn't I 
have taken it!" 

Your Walk Tells 

"That man must have been in the army, or in a mili- 
tary school," I said to a friend once. 

"Yes, " he said; "how did you know?" 

"By the way he walks." 

You can tell that some people have been with Jesus 
by their walk. 

Living on Crumbs 

I once heard Rev. William Arnot say that he was the 
guest of a friend who had a favorite dog. The animal 
would come into the room where the family were sitting 
at the dinner table, and would stand looking at his 
master. If the master threw him a crumb, the dog 
would seize it before it got to the floor. But if he put 
the joint of meat down on the floor the dog would look 
at it and leave it alone, as if it were too good for him. 

"So," said Mr. Arnot, "there are many Christians who 
are satisfied to live on crumbs, when God wants to give 
them the whole joint. " 

Come boldly to the throne of grace, and get the help 
you need. There is an abundance for all. 

An Incident of the Civil War 
After the battle of Murfreesboro, in the Civil War, I 
was stationed in the hospital. For two nights I had been 
unable to get any rest, and being really worn out, on the 
third night I had lain down to sleep. About midnight 
I was called to see a wounded soldier who was very low. 
At first I tried 'to put the messenger off, but he told me 
that if I waited it might be too late in the morning. I 



3 o ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

went to the ward where I had been directed, and found 
the man who had sent for me. I shall never forget his 
face as I saw it that night in the dim, uncertain candle- 
light. I asked what I could do for him, and he said that 
he wanted me to "help him die." I told him I would 
bear him in my arms into the Kingdom of God if I could, 
but I couldn't, and then I tried to preach the Gospel. 
He only shook his head and said: 

t4 He can't save me; I have sinned all my life." 

My thoughts went back to his loved ones in the 
North, and I thought that even then his mother might 
be praying for her boy. I repeated promise after 
promise, and prayed with the dying man, but nothing I 
said seemed to help him. Then I said that I wanted to 
read to him an account of an interview which Christ had 
one night while here on earth with a man who was anx- 
ious about his eternal welfare, and I read the 3d chapter 
of John, how Nicodemus came to the Master. As I read 
on, his eyes became riveted upon me, and he seemed to 
drink in every syllable. When I came to the words: 
lfc As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
life," he stopped me and asked: 

"Is that there?" 

"Yes," I said. 

"Well," he said, "I never knew that was in the Bible. 
Read it again. " 

Leaning his elbows on the side of the cot he brought 
his hands together in a firm grasp, and when I finished 
he exclaimed: 

"That's good. Won't you read it again?" 

Slowly I repeated the passage the third time. When 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 31 

I finished I saw that his eyes were closed, and the 
troubled expression on his face had given way to a 
peaceful smile. His lips moved, and I bent over him to 
catch what he was saying, and heard in a faint whisper: 
" 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
life.' " 

He opened his eyes and said: "That's enough; don't 
read any more. " 

Early next morning I again came to his cot, but it 
was empty. The attendant in charge told me the young 
man had died peacefully, and said that after my visit he 
had rested quietly, repeating to himself, now and then, 
that glorious proclamation: "Whosoever believeth in 
Him should not perish, but have eternal life." 

It Took Two 

A Scotchman was once asked how many it took to 
convert him. 

"Two," he replied. 

"Two! How was that? didn't God do it all?" 

"The Almighty and myself converted me," he said. 
"I did all I could against it, and the Almighty did all 
He could for it, and He was victorious." 

Getting Too Personal 

My wife was once teaching my little boy a Sabbath 
school lesson; she was telling him to notice how sin 
grows till it becomes a habit. The little fellow thought 
it was coming too close to him, so he colored up, and 
finally said : 

"Mamma, I think you are getting a good way from 
the subject." 



j2 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Both Afraid 

I remember a man in New York who used to come 
and pray with me. He had his cross. He was afraid to 
confess Christ. It seemed that down at the bottom of 
his trunk he had a Bible. He wanted to get it out and 
read it to a companion with whom he lived, but he was 
ashamed to do it. For a whole week that was his cross; 
and after he had carried the burden that long, and after 
a terrible struggle, he made up his mind. He said, "I 
will take my Bible out to-night and read it. " He took 
it out, and soon he heard the footsteps of his mate 
coming upstairs. 

His . first impulse was to put it away again, but then 
he thought he would not — he would face his companion 
with it. His mate came in, and seeing him at his Bible, 
said: 

"John, are you interested in these things?" 

"Yes," he replied. 

"How long has this been, then?" asked his compan- 
ion. 

"Exactly a week," he answered; "for a whole week 
I have tried to get out my Bible to read to you, but I 
have never done so till now." 

"Well," said his friend, "it is a strange thing. I was 
converted on the same night, and I, too, was ashamed to 
take my Bible out." 

Awakened Recollections 

Several years ago, a minister in a town much resorted 
to by invalids was requested to see a gentleman reported 
to be very ill. He went accordingly. The patient was 
a man between fifty and sixty, and had been a successful 
merchant in the metropolis. He had been ordered to 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



33 



this health resort, but, as it proved, only to die there. 
The minister soon saw that it was no earnest desire for 
spiritual benefit that had prompted the request. On the 
contrary, he felt there was little or no sense of the gravity 
of the case, and no sympathy with his own concern for 
the sufferer. He felt as if, on the part of the relatives 
at least, there was almost suppressed ridicule of his 
efforts to guide the dying man to the truth. 

Altogether the case was about as hopeless a one as 
my friend had ever dealt with. Still he persevered. I 
cannot remember whether it was during the first visit, 
or upon a second call, that it occurred to him, seeing the 
sufferer was a Scotchman, to take advantage of a line in 
the metrical version of the psalms used in Scotland, to 
convey the saving truth he was trying to state. 

"There is a line in one of your Scotch psalms," said 
my friend, "that contains in five words all I would tell 
you. I do not know the psalm, or the rest of the verse; 
but here are the words, and the whole gospel is in 
them: 

11 None perish that Him trust." 

The invalid looked up from his pillow, and slowly 
repeated : 

"111 shall the wicked slay: laid waste 

Shall be who hate the just; 
The Lord redeems His servants' souls: 
None perish that Him trust." 

"That is it," said my friend; "believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. None perish that Him trust. Where did 
you learn that psalm?" 

"My mother taught me it when I was a boy. She 
used to go to Dr. Alexander's church at Edinburgh." 

Old recollections seemed awakened. Attentively he 



34 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

listened to what more it was thought proper to add. He 
requested a repetition of the visit. How often after the 
minister saw him I do not recollect, but from that hour 
there was a marked change, and an evident growing 
interest as the way of salvation was explained. 

The last time my friend was sent for, he went without 
delay, but it was too late, or seemed to be too late, for 
the dying man to receive aught from human lips. He 
was already far down the valley, alone, and friends 
could only look after him as he descended. As they 
gazed in silence, they saw his lips moving. My friend 
bent down to catch the faint whispers that followed each 
other in slow succession; they were: 

4 ' None — perish — that — Him — trust. ' ' 

He heard no more; but left, indulging a cheerful 
confidence that the seed cast into the heart of her boy 
by a mother long, long years before, had borne fruit to 
eternal life. 

Thank God for the Resurrection! 

At the battle of Inkerman a soldier was just able to 
crawl to his tent after he was struck down. When found, 
he was lying upon his face, his open Bible before him, 
his hand glued fast to the page by his life-blood which 
covered it. Then his hand was lifted, the letters of the 
printed page were clearly traced upon it, and with the 
ever-living promise in and on his hand, they laid him in 
a soldier's grave. The words were: 

"I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth 
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 

I want a religion that can comfort even in death, that 
can unite me with my loved ones. Oh, what gloom and 
darkness would settle upon this world if it was not for 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 35 

the glorious doctrine of the resurrection! Thank God, 
the glorious morning will soon break. For a little while 
God asks us to be on the watch-tower, faithful to Him 
and waiting for the summons. Soon our Lord will come 
to receive His ovvn, whether they be living or dead. 

Too Generous 

A colored preacher once said that a good many of his 
congregation would be lost because they were too gener- 
ous. He saw that the people looked rather surprised; 
so he said: 

"Perhaps you think I have made a mistake, and that 
I ought to have said you will be lost because you are not 
generous enough. That is not so; I meant just what I 
said. You give away too many sermons. You hear 
them, as it were, for other people." 

There are a good many who listen for those behind 
them; they say the message is very good for neighbor 
So-and-so; and they pass it over their shoulders, till it 
gets clear out of the door. 

We All Need Christ 

I read of a minister traveling in the South who 
obtained permission to preach in the local jail. A 
son of his host went with him. On the way back the 
young man, who was not a Christian, said to the 
minister: 

"I hope some of the convicts were impressed. Such 
a sermon as that ought to do them good." 

"Did it do you good?" the minister asked. 

"Oh, you were preaching to the convicts!" the young 
man answered. 

The minister shook his head, and said: "I preached 
Christ, and you need Him as much as they." 



36 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Keep Your Light Shining 

I remember hearing of two men who had charge of a 
revolving light in a lighthouse on a storm-bound and 
rocky coast. Somehow the machinery went wrong, and 
the light did not revolve. They were so afraid that those 
at sea should mistake it for some other light, that they 
worked all the night through to keep the light moving 
round. 

Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that the 
world may see that the religion of Christ is not a sham 
but a reality. 

They Did Not Believe Him 

A man was converted in Europe several years ago, 
and he liked the Gospel so well he thought he should go 
and preach it. He started out, and great crowds came 
to hear him just out of curiosity. The next night there 
were not so many there, and the third night the man 
had scarcely a hearer. But he was anxious to preach 
the Gospel, and so he prepared some great placards and 
posted them all over the town, declaring that if any man 
in that town that was in debt would come to his office 
before twelve o'clock on a certain day with the proof of 
indebtedness, he would pay the debt. This hews spread 
all over the town, but the people did not believe him. 

One man said to his neighbor, "John, do you believe 
this man will pay our debts?' ' 

"No, of course not, it's only a hoax." 

The day came, and instead of there being a great 
rush, nobody came. Now it is a wonder there is not a 
great rush of men into the Kingdom of God to have 
their debts paid, when a man can be saved for nothing. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



37 



About ten o'clock a man was walking- in front of the 
office. He looked this way and that to see if anybody 
was looking, and by and by, satisfied that there was no 
one looking, he slipped in, and said: . 

"I saw a notice about town that if any one would call 
here at a certain hour you would pay their debts; is 
there any truth in it?" 

41 Yes, " said the man; "it's quite true. Did you 
bring the necessary papers with you?" 

"Yes." 

After the man had paid the debt, he said, "Sit down, 
I want to talk with you," and he kept him there until 
twelve o'clock. Before twelve o'clock had passed two 
more came in and had their debts paid. At twelve 
o'clock he let them all out. Some other men were 
standing around the door. 

"Well, did he pay your debts?" 

"Yes," they said; "it was quite true; our debts were 
all paid."' 

"Oh! then we'll go in and get ours paid." 

They went, but it was too late. Twelve o'clock had 
passed. To every one of you who is a bankrupt sinner — 
and you never saw a sinner in the world that was not a 
bankrupt sinner — Christ comes and He says: "I will 
pay your debts." 

1 ' Water! Water !" 
After one of the great battles in the war we were 
coming down the Tennessee River with a company of 
wounded men. It was in the spring of the year, and the 
water was not clear. You know that the cry of a 
wounded man is: "Water! water!" especially in a hot 



38 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

country. I remember taking a glass of the muddy water 
to one of these men. Although he was very thirsty, he 
only drank a little of it. He handed the glass back to 
me, and as he did so, he said: 

4k Oh, for a draught of water from my father's well!" 
Are there any thirsty ones here? Come and drink of 
the fountain opened in Christ! Your longing will be 
satisfied, and you will never thirst again. 

Scissors or Oranges? 

My wife told me one day that she had just come from 
a friend's house where one of the children, a little boy, 
had been cutting something with a knife, and it had 
slipped upward and put out his eye, and his mother was 
afraid of his losing the other. Of course, after that my 
wife was careful that our little boy, two years old, 
shouldn't get the scissors, or anything by which he could 
harm himself. But prohibit a child from having any 
particular thing, and he's sure to have it; so one day 
our little fellow got hold of the scissors. His sister see- 
ing what he had, and knowing the law, tried to take the 
scissors from him, but the more she tried the more he 
clung to them. All at once she remembered that he 
liked oranges, and that there was one in the next room. 
Away she went and back she came : 

"Willie, would you like an orange?" 

The scissors were dropped, and he clutched the 
orange. 

God sometimes takes away the scissors, but He gives 
us an orange. Get both your feet into the narrow way; 
it leads to life and joy; its ways are ways of pleasant- 
ness, and all its paths are peace. It is the way of vic- 
tory, of peace; no gloom there; all light. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



39 



He Honored the Emperor 

Is is said that Alexander the Great had a favorite 
general to whom he had given permission to draw upon 
the royal treasury for any amount. On one occasion 
this general had made a draft for such an enormous sum 
that the treasurer refused to honor it until he consulted 
the emperor. So he went into his presence and told him 
what the general had done. 

"Did you not honor the draft?" said the emperor. 

"No; I refused until I had seen your majesty, because 
the amount was so great." 

The emperor was indignant. His treasurer said that 
he was afraid of offending him if he had paid the 
amount. 

"Do you not know," replied the emperor, "that he 
honors me and my kingdom by-making a large draft?" 

Whether the story be authentic or not, it is true that 
we honor God when we ask for great things. 

Faith in the Wrong Person 
How often we hear a man say: "There is a member 
of the church who cheated me out of five dollars, and I 
am not going to have anything more to do with people 
who call themselves Christians." But if the man had 
had faith in Jesus Christ you do not suppose he would 
have had his faith shattered because some one cheated 
him out of five dollars, do you? What we want is to 
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If a man has that, 
he has something he can anchor to, and the anchor will 
hold; and when the hour of temptation comes to him, 
and the hour of trial, the man will stand firm. If we are 
only converted to man, and our fajth is in man, we will 
certainly be disappointed. 



40 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

4 ' Trusting in the Dark" 

Suppose I have a sick boy. I know nothing about 
medicine; but I call in the doctor, and put that boy's 
life and everything into his hands. I do not fail to 
believe in him; and I do not interfere at all. Do you 
call that trusting in the dark? Not at all! I used my 
best judgment, and I put that boy's life into the hands 
of a good physician. 

You have a soul diseased. Put it into the hand of 
the Great Physician! Trust Him, and He will take 
care of it. He has had somex)f the most hopeless cases. 
He was able to heal all that came to Him while on earth. 
He is the same to-day. 

Take another illustration. Suppose you have one 
thousand dollars, and there are forty thieves who want 
to rob you of it. I tell you that there is a bank here, 
and that I will introduce you to the president so that 
you can deposit the money. You do not know anything 
of the bank, save by repute; you know nothing about 
how the books are kept; but you take my word, and you 
believe my testimony, that if you deposit the money it 
will be safe; and you go in and place the thousand dol- 
lars there. 

We must trust God in time of trouble, in time of 
bereavement. You can trust Him with your soul until 
your dying day, if you will. Will you not do it? 

Don't Trust this Plank 
Don't be watching your feelings. There is not one 
verse from Genesis to Revelation about being saved by 
feeling. When the devil sees a poor soul in agony in the 
waves of sin, and getting close to the Rock of Ages, he 
just holds out the plank of "feeling" to him, and says, 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



4 1 



"There, get on that; you feel more comfortable now, 
don't you?" And, while the man stands getting his 
breath again, out goes the plank from under him, and he 
is worse off than ever. Accept no refuge but the Rock, 
— the Everlasting Strength. 

Enthusiasm 

As I was leaving New York to go to England in 1867, 
a friend said to me: "I hope you will go to Edinburgh 
and be at the General Assembly this year. When I was 
there a year ago I heard such a speech as I shall never 
forget. Doctor Duff made a speech that set me all on 
fire. I shall never forget the hour I spent in that meet- 
ing." 

Doctor Duff had been out in India as a missionary; 
he had spent twenty-five years there preaching the 
Gospel and establishing schools. He came back with a 
broken-down constitution. He was permitted to address 
the General Assembly, in order to make an appeal for 
men to go into the mission field. After he had spoken 
for a considerable time, he became exhausted and fainted 
away. They carried him out of the hall into another 
room. The doctors worked over him for some time, and 
at last he began to recover. When he realized where he 
was, he roused himself and said: 

"I did not finish my speech; carry me back and let 
me finish it." 

They told him he could only do it at the peril of his 
life. Said he: 

"I will do it if I die." 

So they took him back to the hall. My friend said it 
was one of the most solemn scenes he ever witnessed in 
his life. They brought the white-haired man into the 



42 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Assembly Hall, and as he appeared at the door every 
person sprang to his feet; the tears flowed freely as they 
looked upon the grand old veteran. With a trembling 
voice, he said: 

"Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you 
have no more sons to send to India to work for the Lord 
Jesus Christ? The call for help is growing louder and 
louder, but there are few coming forward to answer it. 
You have the money put away in the bank, but where ' 
are the laborers who shall go into the field? When 
Queen Victoria wants men to volunteer for her'army in 
India, you freely give your sons. You do not talk about 
their losing their health, and about the trying climate. 
But when the Lord Jesus is calling for laborers, Scotland 
is saying: 'We have no more sons to give.' " 

Turning to the President of the Assembly, he said: 

"Mr. Moderator, if it is true that Scotland has no 
more sons to give to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ 
in India, although I have lost my health in that land and 
came home to die, if there are none who will go and tell 
those heathen of Christ, then I will be off to-morrow, to 
let them know that there is one old Scotchman who is 
ready to die for them. I will go back to the shores of 
the Ganges, and there lay down my life as a witness for 
the Son of God." 

Thank God for such a man as that! We want men 
to-day who are willing, if need be, to lay down their lives 
for the Son of God. Then we shall be able to make an 
impression upon the world. When they see that we are 
in earnest, their hearts will be touched, and we shall be 
able to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



43 



Only the Sick Ones Would Follow 

A friend, who was traveling in the East, heard that 
there was a shepherd who still kept up the custom of 
calling his sheep by name. He went to the man, and 
said : 

"Let me put on your clothes, and take your crook, 
and I will call them, and see if they will come to me." 

And so he did, and he called one sheep, "Mina, 
Mina," but the whole flock ran away from him. Then 
he said to the shepherd: 

"Will none of them follow me when I call them?" 

The shepherd replied: "Yes, sir, some of them will; 
the sick sheep will follow anybody." 

I'm not going to make the application, I leave that 

to you. 

Paurs Persuasion 

A man was dying during the war. He was asked of 
what persuasion he was. He replied : 

"Paul's." 

"What! are you a Methodist? They all claim Paul." 

"No." 

"Are you a Presbyterian then? They claim Paul, too. " 

"No." 

"Of what persuasion are you then?" 

"I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I 
have committed unto Him against that day." 

How to Warm up the Church 

I was once preaching in Scotland, and when I got to 
the church it was so cold that I could see my breath 
three feet away. I said to the "beadle," as they call 
him: 

"Aren't you going to have any heat in this building?" 



44 



ANECDOTES INCIDENTS 



He said they had no stoves or any other provision for 
heat. 

"Well, how do you expect people to get warm?" 
"Oh!" he said, "we expect the pulpit to warm us up." 

It Seemed a Small Thing 

I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very 
sea-sick. If there is a time when a man feels that he 
cannot do any work for the Lord it is then — in my 
opinion. While this man was sick he heard that a man 
had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do 
anything to help to save him. He laid hold of a light, 
and held it up to the port-hole. 

The drowning man was saved. When this man got 
over his attack of sickness he was up on deck one day, 
and was talking to the man who was rescued. The saved 
man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down 
the second time, and was just going down again for the 
last time, when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, 
some one held a light at the port-hole, and the light fell 
on his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled 
him into the lifeboat. 

It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; 
yet it saved the man's life. If you cannot do some great 
thing you can hold the light for some poor, perishing 
drunkard, who may be won to Christ and delivered from 
destruction. Let us take the torch of salvation and go 
into these dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people 
as the Savior of the world. 

The Jealous Eagle 

There is a fable of an eagle which could outfly an- 
other, and the other didn't like it. The latter saw a 
sportsman one day, and said to him: 



AND ILL STRATIONS 



45 



"I wish you would bring down that eagle." 

The sportsman replied that he would if he only had 
some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled 
one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but didn't 
quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The 
envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling 
them out until he lost so many that he couldn't fly, and 
then the sportsman turned around and killed him. 

My friend, if you are jealous, the only man you can 
hurt is yourself. 

Faith 

When I was a boy, in the spring of the year, when the 
snow had melted away on the New England hills where 
I lived, I used to take a certain kind of glass and hold it 
up to the warm rays of the sun. These would strike on 
it, and I would set the woods on fire. 

Faith is the glass that brings the fire of God out of 
heaven. It was faith that drew the fire down on Carmel 
and burned up Elijah's offering. We have the same God 
to-day, and the same faith. Some people seem to think 
that faith is getting old, and that the Bible is wearing 
out. But the Lord will revive His work now; and we 
shall be able to set the world on fire if each believer has 
a strong and simple faith. 

Reuben Johnson's Pardon 
When I was in Ohio a few years ago, I was invited to 
preach in the State prison. Eleven hundred convicts 
were brought into the chapel, and all sat in front of me. 
After I had got through the preaching, the chaplain said 
to me : 

"Mr. Moody, I want to tell you of a scene which 
occurred in this room. A few years ago, our commis- 



4 6 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

sioncrs went to the Governor of the State, and got him 
to promise that he would pardon five men for good be- 
havior. The Governor consented, with this understand- 
ing — that the record was to be kept secret, and that at 
the end of six months the five men highest on the roll 
should receive a pardon, regardless of who or what they 
were. At the end of six months the prisoners were all 
brought into the chapel. The commissioners came; the 
president stood on the platform, and putting his hand 
in his pocket, brought out some papers, and said: 

" 'I hold in my hand pardons for five men.' " 

The chaplain told me he never witnessed anything on 
earth like it. Every man was as still as death. Many 
were deadly pale. The suspense was awful; it seemed 
as if every heart had ceased to beat. The commissioner 
went on to tell them how they had got the pardon; but 
the chaplain interrupted him. 

"Before you make your speech, read out the names. 
This suspense is awful." 

So he read out the first name, "Reuben Johnson will 
come and get his pardon"; and he held it out, but none 
came forward. 

He said to the warden: "Are all the prisoners here?" 

The warden told him they were all there. 

Then he said again, "Reuben Johnson will come and 
get his pardon. It is signed and sealed by the Governor. 
He is a free man." 

Not one moved. The chaplain looked right down 
where Reu-ben was. He was well known ; he had been 
nineteen years there, and many were looking around to 
see him spring to his feet. But he himself was looking 
around to see the fortunate man who had got his pardon. 
Finally the chaplain had caught his eye, and said: 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 47 

" Reuben, you are the man." 

Reuben turned around and looked behind him to see 
where Reuben was. The chaplain said the second time, 
"Reuben, you are the man"; and the second time he 
looked around, thinking it must be some other Reuben. 
He had to say three times, "Reuben, come and get your 
pardon." 

At last the truth began to steal over the old man. 
He got up, came along down the hall, trembling from 
head to foot, and when he got the pardon he looked at 
it, and went back to his seat, buried his face in his 
hands, and wept. When the prisoners got into the ranks 
to go back to the cells, Reuben got into the ranks, too, 
and the chaplain had to call him: 

"Reuben, get out of the ranks; you are a free man, 
you are no longer a prisoner." 

And Reuben stepped out of the ranks. He was free! 

That is the way men make out pardons; they make 
them out for good character or good behavior; but God 
makes out pardons for men who have not got any charac- 
ter. He offers a pardon to every sinner on earth if he 
will take it. I do not care who he is or what he is like. 
He may be the greatest libertine that ever walked the 
streets, or the greatest blackguard who ever lived, or the 
greatest drunkard, or thief, or vagabond. Christ com- 
missioned His disciples to preach the Gospel to every 
creature. 

Clogged by Sand 

A number of years ago the mouth of the Mississippi 
River became so clogged that no vessels could pass 
through the channel. Much anxiety was felt, for the 
farmers along its banks depended upon the river for the 
transportation of their products. 



48 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

There were no great, overhanging rocks to fall into 
the stream and block the way of the vessels. No vol- 
canic upheaval had changed its bed. The trouble was 
simply the deposit of sediment — washings from the 
muddy banks and bottom of the river, so fine that a filter 
would hardly free the water from its impurity. And yet 
these tiny specks, massed together, hindered the great 
river's flow to the ocean; for a time threatened the 
industries of the Southwestern States. 

It does not need some great sin to block the channel 
of blessing. Small sins will block the stream. 

Human ingenuity at last found a way to keep the 
Mississippi channel open, but only Divine power can free 
our hearts from sin. 

The Difference 

A man said to me some time ago, "How do you 
account for the fact that Mohammed began his work six 
hundred years after Christ and yet he has now more dis- 
ciples than Christ?" 

I replied, "A man can be a disciple of Mohammed 
and not deny himself, not have any cross. He can live 
in the darkest, blackest, foulest sin ; but if any man will 
be a disciple of Jesus Christ he must come out from the 
world, he must take up his cross daily and follow Jesus. " 

Spurgeon's Parable 
Mr. Spurgeon once made a parable. He said: 
"There was once a tyrant who summoned one of his 
subjects into his presence, and ordered him to make a 
chain. The poor blacksmith — that was his occupation 
— had to go to work and forge the chain. When it was 
done, he brought it into the presence of the tyrant, and 
was ordered to take it away and make it twice the length. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



49 



He brought it again to the tyrant, and again he was 
ordered to double it. Back he came when he had 
obeyed the order, and the tyrant looked at it, and then 
commanded the servants to bind the man hand and 
foot with the chain he had made and cast him into 
prison. 

4 'That is what the devil does with men," Mr. Spur- 
geon said. "He makes them forge their own chain, and 
then binds them hand and foot with it, and casts them 
into outer darkness." 

My friends, that is just what drunkards, gamblers, 
blasphemers— that is just what every sinner is doing. 
But thank God, we can tell them of a deliverer. The 
Son of God has power to break every one of their fetters 
if they will only come to Him. 

Those Five Bottles of Wine 

A lady in the north of England said that every time 
she got down before God to pray, five bottles of wine 
came up before her mind. She had taken them wrong- 
fully one time when she was a housekeeper, and had not 
been able to pray since. She was advised to make resti- 
tution. „ 

"But the person is dead," she said. 

"Are not some of the heirs living?" 

"Yes, a son." 

"Then go to that son and pay him back." 

"Well," she said, "I want to see the face of God, 
but I could not think of doing a thing like that. My 
reputation is at stake." 

She went away, and came back the next day to ask if 
it would not do just as well to put that money in the 
treasury of the Lord. 



5 o ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

i4 No," she was told, "God doesn't want any stolen 
money. The only thing is to make restitution." 

She carried that burden for several days, but finally 
went into the country, saw that son, made a full confes- 
sion and offered him a five-pound note. He said he 
didn't want the money, but she finally persuaded him to 
take it, and came back with a joy and peace that made 
her face radiant. She became a magnificent worker for 
souls, and led many into the light. 

My dear friends, get these stumbling stones out of 
the way. God does not want a man to shout "Hallelu- 
jah" who doesn't pay his debts. Many of our prayer- 
meetings are killed by men trying to pray who cannot 
pray because their lives are not right. Sin builds up a 
great wall between us and God. A man may stand high 
in the community and may be a member of some church 
"in good standing," but the question is, how does he 
stand in the sight of God? If there is anything wrong 
in your life, make it right. 

Covering a Sun-Dial 

Phillips Brooks told a story of some savages to whom 
was given a sun-dial. So desirous were they to honor 
and keep it sacred that they housed it in and built a roof 
over it. 

"Is your belief in God so reverent that you put it to 
one side carefully as being too sacred for daily use? 
Learn to use it. Let God in on your life. Let your 
faith inspire you to good works." 

David Livingstone's Loving Spirit 
In the late Professor Drummond's "The Greatest 
Thing in the World," he tells of meeting with natives in 
the interior of Africa who remembered David Living- 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



5 1 



stone. They could not understand a word he uttered, 
but they recognized the universal language of love 
through which he appealed to them. It had been many 
years since that Christian hero had passed their way, 
but the very remembrance of his presence among them 
would kindle a friendly smile. 

It is this very selfsame universal language of love, 
divine, Christlike love, that we must have if we are 
going to be used of God. The world does not under- 
stand theology or dogma, but it understands love and 
sympathy. A loving act may be more powerful and far- 
reaching than the most eloquent sermon. 

When a Christian Grows 
Doctor Bonar once remarked that he could tell when 
a Christian was growing. In proportion to his growth 
in grace he would elevate his Master, talk less of what 
he was doing, and become smaller and smaller in his own 
esteem, until, like the morning star, he faded away 
before the rising sun. Jonathan was willing to decrease 
that David might increase; and John the Baptist showed 
the same spirit of humility. 

"It's Better Higher Up!" 
Not long ago there lived an old bed-ridden saint, and 
a Christian lady who visited her found her always very 
cheerful. This visitor had a lady friend of wealth, who 
constantly looked on the dark side of things, and was 
always cast down, although she was a professed Chris- 
tian. She thought it would do this lady good to see the 
bed-ridden saint, so she took her down to the house. 
She lived up in the garret, five stories up, and when they 
had got to the first story the lady drew up her dress, 
and said : 



5 2 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

"How dark and filthy it is!" 

"It's better higher up," said her friend. 

They got to the next story, and it was no better; the 
lady complained again, but her friend replied: 

"It's better higher up." 

At the third floor it seemed still worse, and the lady 
kept complaining, but her friend kept saying: 

"It's better higher up." 

At last they got to the fifth story, and when they 
went into the sick-room, there was a nice carpet on the 
floor, flowering plants in the window, and little birds 
singing. And there they found this bed-ridden saint — 
one of those saints whom God is polishing for His own 
temple — just beaming with joy. 

The lady said to her, "It must be very hard for you 
to lie here." 

She smiled, and said,"//'^ better higher up." 

Yes! And if things go against us, my friends, let us 
remember that "it's better higher up." 

She Wanted Him to be Graceful 

A Christian mother said she wanted her son to go to 
a dancing-school because he was so awkward; she 
wanted him to be more graceful. Wanted him to get 
grace in his heels, you see, instead of his heart. After 
six weeks he had made such poor progress she took him 
out in disgust and chided him. Said he: 

"I'm sorry, mother, I'm so stupid about it, but I 
can't seem to do any better. You see, it's one of the 
things I can't -pray over." 

A Most Extraordinary Well ! 
I heard of a well that was said to be very good, except 
that it had two faults; it would freeze up in the winter, 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 53 



and it would dry up in the summer. A most extra- 
ordinary well, but I am afraid there are many wells like 
it! There are many people who are good at certain 
times ; as some one has expressed it, they seem to be 
good "in spots." What we want is to be red hot all the 
time. People talk about striking while the iron is hot. 
Cromwell said that he would rather strike the iron and 
make it hot. 

Two Ways of Being United 

There are two ways of being united— one is by being 

frozen together, and the other is by being melted 

together. What Christians need is to be united in 

brotherly love, and then they may expect to have power. 

Looking Downward 

I heard once of a man who dreamed that he was 
swept into heaven, and oh, he was so delighted to think 
that he had at last got there. All at once one came 
and said: 

4 k Come, I want to show you something." 

He took him to the battlements, and he said, "Look 
down yonder; what do you see?" 

4t I see a very dark world." 

"Look and see if you know it." 

"Why, yes," he said, "that is the world I have come 
from." 

"What do you see?" 

"Men are blindfolded there; many of them are going 
over a precipice." 

"Well, will you stay here and enjoy heaven, or will 
you go back to earth and spend a little longer time, and 
tell those men about this world?" 



54 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

He was a Christian worker who had been discouraged. 
He awoke from his sleep and said: 

"I have never wished myself dead since." 

A Well-Deserved Rebuff 

When I first held meetings in Glasgow, my committee 
(without my knowledge) sent to a livery establishment 
that kept a thousand horses, to engage a cab to drive 
me to my meetings on Sunday. The proprietor was a 
godly man, and sent me this message: 

"Tell Mr. Moody he will do as much good by walking 
to his meetings as by driving three or four miles through 
the Fourth Commandment." 

Whichever Way the Wind Blows 
Spurgeon went dow T n into the country to visit a friend 

who had built a new barn, and on the barn was a cupola 

upon which they had put a weather vane with this text of 

Scripture on it: "God is love." Spurgeon said to the 

man: 

"What do you mean by putting that text of Scripture 

on the weather vane? Do you mean that God's love is 

as changeable as the wind?" 

"Oh, no," was the reply; "I mean to say that God 

is love whichever way the wind blows. ' ' 

Different Ideas about Prayer 
There is a new kind of philosophy nowadays which 
teaches that it is a very healthy exercise to pray, because 
it teaches us submission. God doesn't change in His 
plans for us; we won't get anything more by asking, but 
then just ask, it is healthy exercise! A mother in New 
York has lost track of her boy. She is wandering around 
the streets seeking for him. You know that the boy is 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



55 



dead, but still you tell her to keep on seeking — it is 
healthy exercise. What downright mockery it is for any 
one to talk such stuff as that! 

Suppose that in the dead of winter, when the ther- 
mometer is down at zero, a man who has been stuck for 
twenty-four hours in a drift manages to get to my house 
at midnight, and rings the bell. I go to the window, 
and say: 

"Who is there?" 

44 Mr. . I have been in a snowbank twenty-four 

hours, and I am dying. Won't you help him?" 

"Well." I say, "I have a fixed rule never to open my 
door until morning, but you just keep on knocking; it 
will do you good; it is a healthy exercise." 

That is a fair illustration of the way some people 
would have us look at prayer. Christ said, "Ask, and 
ye shall receive. ' ' 

During the war a man came to me at Nashville, a 
great, big six-footer, and he was shaking all over and 
crying like a baby. I thought he must have delirium 
tremens. He pulled out an old, soiled letter and said: 

"Chaplain, read that, will you?" 

It was a letter from his sister, saying that every night 
as the sun went down she fell on her knees and prayed 
God to save her brother. The soldier said: 

"Chaplain, I have been in a number of battles, and 
have been before the cannon's mouth without trembling 
a bit; but the moment I read that letter I began to 
shake. I suppose that I am the meanest wretch in the 
whole Cumberland Army." 

I took a copy of the letter and went to another divi- 
sion of the army, thirty miles away. The next day I 
got up before the men and read it, and told how that 



56 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

man had been saved in answer to the prayers of his sister 
six hundred miles away. When I closed, a fine-looking 
man got up and said: 

''That letter reminds me of the last letter I got from 
my mother. She said/My boy, when you get this letter, 
won't you go off behind a tree and pray to your mother's 
God that you may be converted? Now, my son, won't 
you become a Christian?' " 

He said he put the letter in his pocket, and expected 
to pay no more attention to it, as he thought he would 
get a good many more letters from her; but a few days 
later a dispatch came saying that his mother was dead. 
Then he took her advice, and went off behind a tree and 
cried to his mother's God; the prayer was answered, 
and he said: 

"This is the first time I have ever confessed Jesus 
Christ." 

There were two men, one who had a sister pleading 
six hundred miles away, and the other whose mother had 
brought him on his knees and into the Kingdom of God. 
My dear friends, never stop praying; do not be discour- 
aged. God wants you to "pray without ceasing." 

Moving over to Thanksgiving Street 

An old gentleman got up once in a meeting and said 
he had lived nearly all his life on Grumble street, but 
not long ago he had moved over on Thanksgiving 
street. His face showed it. Paul and Silas in jail at 
Philippi, when they had received stripes on the back and 
had their feet -in the stocks, still sang praises to God. 
If some of us were in jail, with our feet in the stocks, I 
don't think we would sing much. We want a cheerful 
Christianity. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 57 



An Awful Awakening 

In a town of Switzerland a few years ago, some work- 
ingmen going early to work, walking along the street, 
saw a white figure on the top of a high house. What 
was it? A lady in her night-dress; and she was sitting 
looking down, quite happy, smiling in perfect security. 
She was a somnambulist. She had risen in her sleep 
without anyone in the house knowing it, and had taken 
her station, and was pleasantly looking about, and no 
doubt dreaming — dreaming pleasant dreams. 

They didn't know what they could do to save her 
from her peril. Just as they were talking together, the 
sun-rose. A bright beam fell upon her eyes. She waked 
and saw where she was; gazed one moment around, and 
then fell headlong — killed on the spot. It was an awful 
awakening! 

Fellow-sinner, if you are out of Christ, and the day 
of His coming overtakes you — oh, what if the first beam 
of that bright day be the first moment of your awaken- 
ing, and it is too late ! 

Don't Trifle with God 

I met a man some time ago who told me he had never 
sinned in his life. He was the first perfect man I had 
ever met. I thought I would question him, and began 
to measure him by the Law. I asked him: 

4 'Do you ever get angry?" 

"Well," he said, "sometimes I do; but I have a right 
to do so. It is righteous indignation." 

"Do you swear when you get angry?" 

He admitted he did sometimes. 

"Then," I asked, "are you ready to meet God?" 






58 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



"Yes," he replied, "because I never mean anything 
when I swear." 

Suppose I steal a man's watch and he comes after me. 
"Yes," I say, "I stole your watch and pawned it, but I 
did not 7nean anything by it. I pawned it and spent the 
money, but / did not mean anything by it. " 

You would smile at and deride such a statement. 

Ah, friends! You cannot trifle with God in that way. 

First Obey 

Suppose I say to my boy, "Willie, I want you to go 
out and bring me a glass of water. " 

He says he doesn't want to go. 

"I didn't ask you whether you wanted to go or not, 
Willie, I told you to go." 

"But I don't want to go," he says. 

* ' I tell you, you must go and get me a glass of water. ' 

He does not like to go. But he knows I am very 
fond of grapes, and he is very fond of them himself, so 
he goes out, and some one gives him a beautiful cluster 
of grapes. He comes in and says: 

"Here, papa, here is a beautiful cluster of grapes for 
you." 

"But what about the water?" 

"Won't the grapes be acceptable, papa?" 

"No, my boy, the grapes are not acceptable; I won't 
take them; I want you to get me a glass of water." 

The little fellow doesn't want to get the water, but he 
goes out, and this time some one gives him an orange. - 
He brings it in and places it before me. 

"Is that acceptable?" he asks. 

"No, no, no!" I say; "I want nothing hut water; 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



59 



you cannot do anything to please me until you get the 
water." 

And so, my friends, to please God you must first obey 
Him. 

A Fragrant Act 

There is a preacher in Edinburgh, but I never think 
of him as a preacher, although he is one of the finest 
preachers in Scotland. There is just one act associated 
with that man that I will carry in remembrance to the 
grave. 

There is a hospital for little children in Edinburgh, 
and that great minister, with a large parish and a large 
congregation, goes one afternoon every week and sits 
down and talks with those little children — a good many 
of them there for life; they are incurable. One day he 
found a little boy, only six years old, who had been 
brought over from Fife. The little fellow was in great 
distress because the doctors were coming to take off his 
leg. Think how you would feel, if you had a little 
brother six years old and he was taken off to the hos- 
pital, and the doctor said that he was coming forty-eight 
hours afterward to take off his leg! 

Well, that minister tried to comfort the boy, and said: 
"Your father will come to be with you." 

"No," he said, "my father is dead; he cannot be 
here." 

"Well, your mother will come." 

"My mother is over in Fife. She is sick and cannot 
come." 

The minister himself could not come, so he said, 
"Well, you know the matron here is a mother; she has 
got a great big heart." 



60 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

The little chin began to quiver as the boy said: 
"Perhaps Jesus will be with me." 

Do you have any doubt of it? Next Friday the man 
of God went to the hospital, but he found the cot was 
empty. The poor boy was gone; the Savior had come 
and taken him to His bosom. 

One little act of kindness will often live a good deal 
longer than a most magnificent sermon. 

We Shall Know Them 

I heard a child whose mother died so early that she 
could not remember the mother. She did not have a 
photograph, and never saw her face ; but after she had 
come to years of understanding, she was taken sick, and 
when she was dying, suddenly her face lit up. She 
seemed to see her mother, and said: 

"Oh mother!" 

I think that when I see my Master I shall know Him. 
I have an idea that when I see Moses and the Prophets 
and the Patriarchs and Apostles, I shall know them. Do 
you ask, How? I don't know. 

Encourage Others 

If we cannot be in the battle ourselves let us not seek 
to discourage others. 

A Highland chief of the Macgregor clan fell wounded 
at the battle of Sheriff-Muir. Seeing their leader fall, 
the clan wavered, and gave the foe an advantage. The 
old chieftain, perceiving this, raised himself on his elbow, 
while the blood streamed from his wounds, and cried 
out: 

I am not dead, my children; I am looking at you to 
see you do your duty. " 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 6l 

This roused them to new energy and almost super- 
human effort. 

So, when our strength fails and our hearts sink within 
us, the Captain of our salvation cries: 

"Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the 
world. I will never leave nor forsake thee." 

Their Prayers Answered 

I remember when preaching on one occasion to an 
immense audience in the Agricultural Hall in London, 
a father and mother were in great distress about their ab- 
sent son, who had given up God's ways and had wandered 
from his father's home to the wild bush of Australia. 
These poor parents asked the united prayers of that vast 
congregation for their son, and I suppose fully 20,000 
rose to the mercy seat. It was ascertained afterward 
that at the very hour those prayers ascended from the 
audience in London, that young man was riding through 
the Australian bush to a town a day's ride from his camp. 
Something caused him to think of his home and his 
parents, and as he sat in the saddle, the Spirit of God 
descended upon him, and he was convicted of sin. Dis- 
mounting, he knelt down by his horse's side, and prayed 
to God for forgiveness, and in a little while he was 
assured of conversion. When he reached the town, he 
wrote the good news to his delighted mother, and asked 
if they would receive him at home. The answer flashed 
along the cable beneath the ocean: 

"Come home at once. : ' 

So afraid were they that he might arrive in the night 
when they were not awake to receive him, that they 
fastened a big bell to the door, so that all the family 
would be awakened as he entered. 



62 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

" He is My Brother!" 

A fearful storm was raging, when the cry was heard : 
"Man overboard!" 

A human form was seen manfully breasting the fu- 
rious elements in the direction of the shore; but the 
raging waves bore the struggler rapidly outward, and 
ere the boats could be lowered, a fearful space separated 
the victim from help. Above the shriek of the storm 
and roar of the waters rose his rending cry. It was an 
agonizing moment. With bated breath and blanched 
cheek, every eye was strained to the struggling man. 
Manfully did the brave rowers strain every nerve in that 
race of mercy; but all their efforts were in vain. One 
wild shriek of despair, and the victim went down. A 
piercing cry, "Save him, save him!" rang through the 
hushed crowd; and into their midst darted an agitated 
man, throwing his arms wildly in the air, shouting, "A 
thousand pounds for the man who saves his life !" but 
his staring eyes rested only on the spot where the waves 
rolled remorselessly over the perished. He whose strong j 
cry broke the stillness of the crowd was Captain of the • 
ship from whence the drowned man fell, and was his 
brother. 

This is the feeling we should have in the various 
ranks of those bearing commission under the great Cap- 
tain of our salvation. "Save him! he is my brother." 

The fact is, men do not believe in Christianity because 
they think we are not in earnest about it. When the 
people see that we are in earnest in all that we undertake 
for God, they will begin to tremble; men and women 
will be inquiring the way to.Zion. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 63 

He Trusted his Father 

I was standing with a friend at his garden gate one 
evening when two little children came by. As they ap- 
proached us he said to me: 

"Watch the difference in these two boys." 

Taking one of them in his arms he stood him on the 
gatepost, and stepping back a few feet he folded his 
arms and called to the little fellow to jump. In an 
instant the boy sprang toward him and was caught in 
his arms. Then turning to the second boy he tried the 
same experiment. But in the second case it was 
different. The child trembled and refused to move. My 
friend held out his arms and tried to induce the child to 
trust to his strength, but nothing could move him. At 
last my friend had to lift him down from the post and let 
him go. 

"What makes such a difference in the two?" I asked. 

My friend smiled and said, "The first is my own boy 
and knows me; but the other is a stranger's child whom 
I have never seen before." 

There was all the difference. My friend was equally 
able to prevent both from falling, but the difference was 
in the boys themselves. The first had assurance in his 
father's ability and acted upon it, while the second, 
although he might have believed in the ability to 
save him from harm, would not put his belief into 
action. 

So it is with us. We hesitate to trust ourselves to 
that loving One whose plans for us are far higher than 
any we have ourselves made. He, too, with outstretched 
arms, calls us, and would we but listen to His voice we 



64 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

would hear that invitation and promise of assurance as 
He gave it of old: 

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy- 
laden, and I will give you rest." 

Living Christ 

Even though you cannot talk about Christ, you can 
live Him. 

A young lady, a daughter of one of the wealthiest 
merchants in London, felt that she could not speak much 
for Christ, but I learned that every Sunday afternoon she 
stole out from that magnificent home of hers,, and went 
to an old man who could not speak the English language, 
but could only speak Gaelic. This girl could read in 
that language, and every Sabbath afternoon she went 
and read to him, because that was the time of all the 
week when he was tempted to get drunk, and she wanted 
to save him. 

Another case interested me very much. When I was 
in London, one of the wealthiest young men of the city, 
an only son of one of the leading London bankers, a 
young man who was coming into possession of millions, 
a student at Cambridge University, felt that he could 
not go into the inquiry meetings and work in that way, 
but he went out to a cabman one night and said: 

"I will pay you your regular fee by the hour if you 
will go in and hear Mr. Moody preach. I will act as 
cabman and take care of your horse." 

And on, that cold, bleak night in London, that gentle- ' 
man stood by the cabman's horse, and let that cabman 
go and hear the Gospel. He was gone about two hours, 
and all the while that young man stood there confessing 
Christ silently. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 65 

I said to a Scotchman one day as he stayed to the 
after-meeting, "Would you speak to that young man 
there?" 

He was a great manufacturer. He said, " Mr. Moody, 
I am very reticent; I don't know that I could do that." 

I said, "Perhaps you can help him; I wish you would 
speak to him. " 

He sat down beside the young man and found him to 
be a workingman. He said that every Saturday noon 
when he was paid off and went home to get his dinner, a 
terrible thirst for strong drink came on him, and that 
by Monday all his wages were drunk up. 

This gentleman asked: "What time do you get your 
dinner?" 

He told him. The next Saturday afternoon that great 
manufacturer was there, and spent the whole afternoon 
with him. The next Saturday he came again, and he 
kept at it until he got that man away from the power of 
strong drink. 

That is a -good way to confess Christ. If you can't 
do it with your lips, you can do it in some way. Watch 
for opportunities to let the world know on whose side 
you stand. 

Garibaldi's Enthusiasm 

I did not agree with Garibaldi's judgment in all 
things, but I did admire his enthusiasm. I never saw 
his name in the papers, or in a book, but I read all I 
could find about him. There was something about him 
that fired me up. I remember reading of the time when 
he was on the way to Rome in 1867, and when he was 
cast into prison. I read the letter he sent to his com- 
rades: 



66 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

"If fifty Garibaldis are thrown into prison, let Rome 
be free !" 

He did not care for his own comfort, so long as the 
cause of freedom in Italy was advanced. If we have 
such a love for our Master and His cause that we are 
ready to go out and do His work whatever it may cost 
us personally, depend upon it the Lord will use us in 
building up His Kingdom. 

A Typical Case 

Experience has taught me that most of the men that 
talk against the Bible are men that never read it. There 
is no book in the world misjudged like the Bible. A 
modern book comes out, and people say: 

"Have you read such a book?" 

And you say, "Yes, I have just read it." 

"Well, what is your opinion about it?" 

"Well, I wouldn't like to give my opinion without 
reading it more carefully." 

And yet men are very free to give their opinion about 
God's Book without reading it. A friend of mine was 
in Montreal some time ago, and he talked with a man 
upon the subject of Christ and Christianity. 

"Well," he said, "the fact is we have got to have a 
new Bible. That old Book," he said, "was good enough 
for the Dark Ages, but we have outgrown it. It is of no 
use to this enlightened age." 

My friend said, "Before we give up the old Book let us 
see how much we know about it. Can you tell me which 
is the first'book in the Bible, Genesis or Revelation?" 

Well, he said he couldn't just tell that. He didn't 
quite know, but he knew they had got to have another 
Bible. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 67 

That man is typical of all the men that I have ever 
heard howling and writing against the Bible. I never 
met one in my life — yes, I will make one exception, I 
did meet one man that claimed he had read it through; 
but I doubted him, because when I pressed him to quote 
something out of it all he could remember was "Jesus 
wept. " 

Everything Thrown Overboard 

"There sometimes comes a time on shipboard when 
everything must be sacrificed to save the passengers. 
The cargo is thrown overboard, the rigging thrown 
away. At last the captain puts the trumpet to his lips, 
and shouts, 'Cut away the mast!' 

"Some of you have been tossed and driven, and in 
your effort to keep the world, you have well nigh lost 
your soul. Overboard with all other anxieties and 
burdens! Drop the sails of pride and self-righteousness! 
God will hear your faintest cry for help!" 

The Love of God 

Among the many victims of the Paris Commune was a 
Catholic bishop. He was a man who knew something of 
the love of God in his own experience. In the little cell 
where he was confined awaiting execution was a small 
window in the shape of a cross. After his death was 
found written above the cross, "height"; below it, 
"depth"; and at the end of each arm of the cross, 
"length" and "breadth." He had learned that God's 
love was unfailing in the hour of adversity and death. 

Calling a Spade a Spade 
A lady once said to me, "I have got so in the habit 
of exaggerating that my friends accuse me of exaggerat- 
ing so that they don't understand me." 



6S ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

She said, "Can you help me? What can I do to over- 
come it?" 

"Well," I said, "the next time you catch yourself 
lying, go right to that party and say you have lied, and 
tell him you are sorry. ~ Say it is a lie; stamp it out, 
root and branch; that is what you want to do." 

"Oh," she said, "I wouldn't like to call it lying." 

But that is what it was. Christianity isn't worth a 
snap of your finger if it doesn't straighten out your 
character. 

"I Ain't No Beggar!" 

Mr. Morehouse once used an illustration which 
fastened itself on my mind. He said: 

Suppose you go up the street and meet a man whom 
you have known for the last ten years to be a beggar, 
and you notice a change in his appearance, and you say: 

"Hello, beggar, w T hat's come, over you?" 

"I ain't no beggar. Don't call me a beggar. " 

"Why," you say, "I saw you the other day begging 
in the street." 

"Ah, but a change has taken place," he replies. 

"Is that so? how did it come about?" 

"Well," he says, "I came out this morning, and got 
down here intending to catch the business men and get 
money out of them, when one of them came up to me 
and said there was $10,000 deposited for me in bank." 

"How do you know this is true?" you say. 

"I went, to the bank and they put the money in my 
hand." 

"Are you sure of that?" you ask; tv how do you know 
it was the right kind of a hand?" 

But he says: "I don't care whether it was the right 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 69 

kind of a hand or not; I got the money, and that's all I 
wanted. " 

Faith is the hand that reaches out and takes the 
blessing. Any faith that brings you to Christ is the 
right kind of faith, and instead of looking at your faith 
look to Christ. See if you have the right kind of a 
Christ — a Christ that is giving you victory over sin. 
Faith is to the soul what the eye is to the body. I do 
not pick my eyes out of my head every now and then to 
see if they are the right kind of eyes. Yet people are 
doing that with faith all the time. 

Some one has said, faith sees a thing in God's hand, 
and says, "I will have it." Unbelief sees it there, and 
says, "God won't give it me." Look to God by faith 
now and have salvation. 

A Remarkable Picture 

Some years ago a remarkable picture was exhibited 
in London. As you looked at it from a distance, you 
seemed to see a monk engaged in prayer, his hands 
clasped, his head bowed. As you came nearer, however, 
and examined the painting more closely, you saw that in 
reality he was squeezing a lemon into a punch bowl! 

What a picture that is of the human heart! Superfi- 
cially examined, it is thought to be the seat of all that is 
good and noble and pleasing in a man; whereas in 
reality, until regenerated by the Holy Ghost, it is the 
seat of all corruption. "This is the condemnation, that 
light is come into the world, and men loved _ darkness 
rather than light. ' ' 

He Turned the Laugh 
A voung man was preaching on the streets in London 
when an infidel came up and said: 



70 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

"The man who invented gas did more for the world 
than Jesus Christ. " 

The young man could not answer him, and the crowd 
had the laugh on him. But another man got up and 
said : 

"Of course the man has a right to his opinion, and I 
suppose if he was dying he would send for the gasfitter, 
but I think I should send for a minister and have him 
read the 14th chapter of John" ; and he turned the laugh 
back on the man. 

I Must Get on Board 

I believe that the Cunard Line of steamers is a good 
line, and that if I should get on board of one of them 
next week, I should arrive in England in six or eight 
days. But if I did not get on board, I should not get 
there any more than one who did not believe so at all. 
We want a laying-hold belief. God offers Christ; we 
want not only to believe that, but to take Him. The Old 
Testament word for belief is trust. Isaiah xxvi:3, says: 
ik Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is 
stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." 

Give Up Now! 

Dr. Andrew Bonar told me how, in the Highlands of 
Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks 
and get into places that they couldn't get out of. The 
grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep 
like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and 
then they can't jump back again, and the shepherd hears 
them bleating in distress. They may be there for days, 
until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will 
wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 71 

they will put a rope around him, and he will go over and 
pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death. 

"Why don't they go down there when the sheep first 
gets there?" I asked. 

"Ah!" he said, "they are so very foolish they would 
dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!" 

And that is the way with men; they won't go back to 
God till they have no friends and have lost everything. 
If you are a wanderer I tell you that the Good Shepherd 
will bring you back the moment you have given up trying 
to save yourself and are willing to let Him save you His 
own way. 

The Popular Kind of Preaching 

A young minister took a church in Scotland, and 
began to preach about the sins of the present day, and 
those of the people who came to hear him. The old 
sexton came to him and said: 

"Young man, if you expect to hold this people you 
must be careful about preaching on modern sins. You 
can preach about the sins of Abraham, and Isaac, and 
Jacob, and the old Patriarchs, but don't you preach about 
the sins of the present day, because the people will not 
stand it." 

"They Love a Fellow There !" 

Show me a church where there is love, and I will 
show you a church that is a power in the community. 
In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sun- 
day-school I know of. When his parents moved to 
another part of the city the little fellow still attended 
the same Sunday-school, although it meant a long, tire- 
some walk each way. A friend asked him why he went 



72 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

so far, and told him that there were plenty of others 
just as good nearer his home. 

"They may be as good for others, but not for me," 
was his reply. 

"Why not?" she asked. 

"Because they love a fellow over there," he replied. 

If only we could make the world believe that we loved 
them there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller 
proportion, of our population who never darken a church 
door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, 
and the world will soon be evangelized. 

How to Kill Jealousy 

There were two business men — merchants — and there 
was great rivalry between them, a great deal of bitter 
feeling. One of them was converted. He went to his 
minister and said: 

"I am still jealous of that man, and I do not know 
how to overcome it." 

"Well," he said, "if a man comes into your store to 
buy goods, and you cannot supply him, just send him 
over to your neighbor." 

He said he wouldn't like to do that. 

"Well," the minister said, "you do it, and you will 
kill jealousy." 

He said he would, and when a customer came into his 
store for goods which he did not have, he would tell him 
to go across the street to his neighbor's. By and by 
the other began to send his customers over to this man's 
store, and the breach was healed. 

The Unerring Guide 

I am told by people who have been over the Alps, 
that the guide fastens them, if they are going in a 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



73 



dangerous place, right to himself, and he goes on before; 
they are fastened to the guide. And so should the 
Christian be linked to his unerring Guide, and be safely 
upheld. 

If a man was going through the Mammoth Cave, it 
would be almost death to him if he strayed away from 
his guide — if separated from him, he would almost 
certainly perish. There are pitfalls in that cave, and a 
bottomless river, and there would be no chance for a 
man to find his way out of that cave without a guide or 
a light. So there is no chance for us to get through the 
dark wilderness of this world alone. It is folly for men 
and women to think that they can get through this evil 
world without the light of God's Word and the guidance 
of the Divine Spirit. God sent Him to guide us through 
this great journey, and if we seek to work independent 
of Him, we shall stumble into the deep darkness of 
eternity's night. 

The Second Plan Succeeded 

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. 
The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen 
other young men, who passed the time playing cards and 
gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and 
prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and 
throw boots at him. 

So it went on the next night and the next, and finally 
the young man went and told the chaplain what had 
taken place, and asked what he should do. 

"Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, 
and the other men have just as much right in the bar- 
racks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you 
pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say 
your prayers in bed and don't provoke them." 



74 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young 
man again, but one day he met him, and asked — 

"By the way, did you take my advice?" 

44 1 did, for two or three nights." 

"How did it work?" 

"Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped 
hound, and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down 
and prayed. " 

"Well, ".asked the chaplain, "how did that work?" 

The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer- 
meeting there now every night, and three have been 
converted, and we are praying for the rest." 

Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let 
us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain 
sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them do 
it. It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. 
Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing 
Christ. 

God Had Moved Him 

There was an ex-judge in Chicago who thought that 
requests for prayer were too sacred to be made public, 
and he disliked my way of asking God's aid for those in 
need. He had a son who was with Grant at the seige of 
Richmond. One morning he became particularly de- 
pressed in spirit as his thoughts went out to the boy. 
He could not shake off the feeling that something was 
going to happen to his son, and he went to the meeting, 
and after much hesitation, asked me to pray for him. „ 
As he left the hall a telegram was handed to him. His 
son had been mortally wounded in battle that day. He 
said to me afterward that he firmly believed God put it 
into his head to come and ask for prayer. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 75 

Lies Never Called Back 

The most dangerous thing about a lie is that a word 
once uttered can never be obliterated. Some one has 
said that lying is a worse crime than counterfeiting. 
There is some hope of following up bad coins until they 
are all recovered; but an evil word can never be over- 
taken. The mind of the hearer or reader has been 
poisoned, and human devices cannot reach in and cleanse 
it. Lies can never be called back. 

A woman who was well known as a scandal-monger, 
went and confessed to the priest. He gave her a ripe 
thistle-top and told her to go out and scatter the seeds 
one by one. She wondered at the penance, but obeyed; 
then she came and told the priest. He next told her to 
go and gather again the scattered seeds. Of course she 
saw that it was impossible. The priest used it as an 
object-lesson to cure her of the sin of scandalous talk. 

"More to Follow" 

Rowland Hill used to tell a good story of a rich man 
and a poor man in his congregation. The rich man 
desired to do an act of benevolence, and so he sent a 
sum of money to a friend to be given to this poor man 
as he thought best. The friend just sent him five pounds, 
and said in the note: 

4 'This is thine. Use it wisely. There is more to 
follow." 

After a while he sent another five pounds, and said, 
"more to follow." 

Again and again he sent the money to the poor man, 
always with the cheering words, "more to follow." 

So it is with the wonderful grace of God. There is 
always 'more to follow." 



y6 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

How to Repay a Good Deed 

After the big Chicago fire I came to New York for 
money, and I heard there was a rich man in Fall River 
who was very liberal. So I went to him. He gave me 
a check for a large amount, and then got into his 
carriage and drove with me to the houses of other rich 
men in the city, and they all gave me checks. When 
he left me at the train I grasped his hand and said : 

"If you ever come to Chicago, call on me, and I will 
return your favor." 

He said: "Mr. Moody, don't wait for me; do it to 
the first man that comes along." 

I never forget that remark; it had the ring of the 
true good Samaritan. 

They Are Old Enough 

I have no sympathy with the idea that our children 
have to grow up before they are converted. Once I saw 
a lady with three daughters at her side, and I stepped 
up to her and asked her if she was a Christian. 

"Yes, sir." 

Then I asked the oldest daughter if she was a Chris- 
tian. The chin began to quiver, and the tears came into 
her eyes, and she said: 

"I wish I was." 

The mother looked very angrily at me and said, "I 
don't want you to speak to my children on that subject. 
They don't understand." And in great rage she took 
them all away from me. One daughter was fourteen, 
years old, one twelve, and the other ten, but they were 
not old enough to be talked to about religion ! Let them 
drift into the world and plunge into worldly amuse- 
ments, and then see how hard it is to reach them. Manv 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 77 

a mother is mourning to-day because her boy has gone 
beyond her reach, and will not allow her to pray with 
him. She may pray for him, but he will not let her pray 
or talk with him. In those early days when his mind 
was tender and young, she might have led him to Christ. 
Bring them in. ''Suffer the little children to come unto 
Me." 

Is there a prayerless father reading this? May God 
let the arrow go down into your soul! Make up your 
mind that, God helping you, you will get the children 
converted. God's order is to the father first, but if he 
isn't true to his duty, then the mother should be true, 
and save the children from the wreck. Now is the time 
to do it while you have them under your roof. Exert 
your parental influence over them. 

What Made Both Safe 
Some one has said that a little fly in Noah's ark was 
just as safe as an elephant. It was not the elephant's 
size and strength that made him safe. It was the ark 
that saved both elephant and fly. 

It is not your righteousness, your good works, that 
will save you. Rich or poor, learned or unlearned, you 
can be saved only by the blood of Christ. 

It Was Not Safe 

There is a story of Doctor Chalmers. A lady came 
to him and said : 

"Doctor, I cannot bring my child to Christ. I've 
talked, and talked, but it's of no use." 

The doctor thought she had not much skill, and said, 
"Now you be quiet, and I will talk to her alone." 

When he got the girl alone he said to her: "They are 
bothering you a good deal about this question; now sup- 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



pose I just tell your mother you don't want to be talked 
to any more upon this subject for a year. How will that 
do?" 

Well, the Scotch lassie hesitated a little, and then 
said she, "didn't think it would be safe to w T ait for a 
year. Something might turn up. She might die before 
then." 

"That's so," replied the doctor; "but suppose we 
say six months." 

She didn't think even this would be safe. 

"Well, let us say three months," was the doctor's 
reply. 

After a. little hesitation, the girl finally said, "I don't 
think it would be safe to put it off for three months — 
don't think it would be safe to put it off at all," and 
they went down on their knees and she found Christ. 

A Penalty Necessary 

A person once said to me: "I hate your God; your 
God demands blood. I don't believe in such a God. My 
God is merciful to all. I do not know your God." 

If you will turn to Lev. xvii. n, you will find why 
God demands blood: "For the life of the flesh is in the 
blood ; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make 
an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that 
maketh an atonement for the soul." 

Suppose there was a law that man should not steal, 
but no penalty was attached to stealing; some man would 
have my pocketbook before dinner. If I threatened to 
have him arrested, he would snap his fingers in my face. 
He would not fear the law, if there was no penalty. It 
is not the law that people are afraid of; it is the penalty 
attached. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS y 9 

Do you suppose God has made a law without a pen- 
alty. What an absurd thing it would be! Now, the 
penalty for sin is death: "the soul that sinneth, it shall 
die." I must die, or get somebody to die for me. If 
the Bible doesn't teach that, it doesn't teach anything. 
And that is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in. 

Hard to be Counterfeited 

A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, 
he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it 
is very difficult to counterfeit humility. You soon detect 
mock humility. They have a saying in the East among 
the Arabs, that as the tares and the wheat grow they 
show which God has blessed. The ears that God has 
blessed bow their heads and acknowledge every grain, 
and the more fruitful they are the lower their heads are 
bowed. The tares which God has sent as a curse, lift 
up their heads erect, high above the wheat, but they are 
only fruitful of evil. I have a pear-tree on my farm 
which is very beautiful; it appears to be one of the most 
beautiful trees on my place. Every branch seems to be 
reaching up to the light and stands almost like a wax 
candle, but I never get any fruit from it. I have 
another tree, which was so full of fruit last year that the 
branches almost touched the ground. If we only get 
down low enough, my friends, God will use every one of 
us to His glory. 

"As the lark that soars the highest builds her nest 
the lowest; as the nightingale that sings so sweetly sings 
in the shade when all things rest; as the branches that 
are most laden with fruit bend lowest; as the ship most 
laden sinks deepest in the water; so the holiest Chris- 
tians are the humblest." 



8o ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

The London Times some years ago told the story of a 
petition that was being circulated for signatures. It was 
a time of great excitement, and this petition was 
intended to have great influence in the House of Lords; 
but there was one word left out. Instead of reading, 
"We humbly beseech thee," it read, "We beseech thee. " 
So it was ruled out. My friends, if we want to make an 
appeal to the God of heaven, we must humble ourselves; 
and if we do humble ourselves before the Lord, we shall 
not be disappointed. 

Into the Lion's Mouth 

A gentleman once went to Dr. Somerville, and said: 
"My son is going away to South America. He will not 
be within reach of the ordinances of religion. I know 
he will have no Sabbath; and he is to be away three 
years. Now, I want you to pray for him, that he may 
not lose all the good disposition he seems to feel." 

Doctor Somerville looked at him and said: "Ay, you 
are going to put your son's head into the mouth of a 
lion, and then going to stand and pray, 'May the lion 
not crush him!' " 

A Prayer-Meeting in Hell ! 

An aged minister fancied that he had committed the 
unpardonable sin. At last, after much conflict, he sub- 
mitted to what he mistakably considered was the will of 
God, for him to be lost. Then something within him 
whispered: 

"Suppose there is a hell for you, what would you, 
with your disposition and habits, do there?" 

The quick answer was, "I would set up a prayer- 
meeting," and with the words came the light of God to 









AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



show him the absurdity of it all. The fact that one 
fears that he has committed this sin is the sure proof 
that he has not. 

As Others See Us 
Leech, the celebrated artist and caricaturist, is said 
to have had an effective method of reprimanding his 
children. If their faces were distorted by anger, by a 
rebellious temper, or a sullen mood, he took out his 
sketch-book, transferred their lineaments to paper, and 
showed them, to their confusion, how ugly naughtiness 
was. Grown-up people like quite as little as children 
to see themselves as others see them. And yet, whether 
we like it or not, all our words and deeds are set down 
in God's book of remembrance. 

A Grand Confession 

I remember some meetings being held in a locality 
where the tide did not rise very quickly, and bitter and 
reproachful things were being said about the work. 
But one day, one of the most prominent men in the 
place rose and said: 

"I want it to be known that I am a disciple of Jesus 
Christ; and if there is any odium to be cast on his 
cause, I am prepared to take my share of it." 

It went through the meeting like an electric current, 
a:id a blessing came at once to his own soul and to the 
souls of others. 

Best of All 

A Jewish rabbi once asked his scholars what was the 
best thing a man could have in order to keep him in 
the straight path. One said a good disposition; another, 
a good companion; another said wisdom was the best thing 



82 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

he could desire. At last a scholar replied that he 
thought a good heart was best of all. 

"True," said the rabbi, "you have comprehended all 
that the others have said. For he that hath a good 
heart will be of a good disposition, and a good compan- 
ion, and a wise man. Let every one, therefore, culti- 
vate a sincerity and uprightness of heart at all times, and 
it will save him an abundance of sorrow." 

We need to make the prayer of David — "Create in 
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within 
me!" 

Only One Answer to This 

If God put Adam out of the earthly Eden on account 
of one sin, do you think He will let us into the paradise 
above with tens of thousands of our sins upon us? 

A Beautiful Legend 

There is a beautiful tradition connected with the site 
on which the temple of Solomon was erected. It is said 
to have been occupied in common, by two brothers, one 
of whom had a family, the other had none. On this spot 
was sown a field of wheat. On the evening succeeding 
the harvest — the wheat having been gathered in separate 
shocks — the elder brother said to his wife: 

"My younger brother is unable to bear the burden 
and heat of the day; I will arise, take of my shocks and 
place with his without his knowledge." 

The younger brother being actuated by the same 
benevolent motives, said within himself: 

"My elder brother has a family, and I have none. I 
will arise, take of my shocks, and place them with his." 

Judge of their mutual astonishment, when, on the fol- 
lowing day, they found their respective shocks undimin- 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 83 

ished. This transpired for several nights, when each 
resolved in his own mind to stand guard and solve the 
mystery. They did so; and on the following night they 
met each other half-way between their respective shocks 
with their arms full. Upon ground hallowed by such 
associations as this was the temple of Solomon erected — 
so spacious and magnificent — the wonder and admiration 
of the world! Alas! in these days, how many would 
sooner steal their brother's whole shock than add to it a 
single sheaf! 

Not Wanted 

A man said to me some time ago: "Mr. Moody, now 
that I am converted, have I to give up the world?" 

44 No, " said I, "you haven't to give up the world. If 
you give a good- ringing testimony for the Son of God, 
the world will give you up pretty quick; they won't want 
you." 

All Arranged Nicely 

I got hold of an infidel some time ago. I said: 

"How do you account for the formation of the 
world?" 

"Oh! force and matter work together, and by chance 
the world was created." 

I said: "It is a singular thing that your tongue isn't 
on the top of your head if force and matter just threw it 
together in that manner." 

If I should take out my watch and say that force and 
matter worked together, and out came the watch, you 
would say I was a lunatic of the first order. Wouldn't 
you? And yet they say that this old world was made 
by chance! "It threw itself together!" 



§4 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

I met a man in Scotland, and he took the ground 
that there was no God. I asked him : 

44 How do you account for creation, for all these 
rocks?" (They have a great many rocks in Scotland.) 

"Why!" he said, "any school boy could account for 
that." 

"Well, how was the first rock made?" 

"Out of sand." 

"How was the first sand made?" 

"Out of rock." 

You see he had it all arranged so nicely. Sand and 
rock, rock and sand. 

44 Saved!" 

At the time of the loss of the Atlantic on the banks of 
Newfoundland a business man was reported lost. His 
store was closed, and all his friends mourned for him as 
among those who went down on that vessel. But a tele- 
gram was received from him by his partner with the word 
"Saved," and that partner was filled with joy. The 
store was opened and the telegram was framed, and if 
you go into that store to-day you will see that little bit 
of paper hanging on the wall, with the word "Saved" 
upon it. 

Let the news go over the wires to heaven to-day from 
you. Let the word "Saved" go from every one of you, 
and there will be joy in heaven. You can be saved — the 
Son of Man wants to save you. 

' Holding Church in a Saloon 

When I first began to work for God in Chicago a 

Boston business man was converted there and stayed 

three months, and when leaving he said to me that there 

was a man living on such a street in whom he was very 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 85 

much interested, and whose boy was in the high school, 
and he had said that he had two brothers and a little 
sister who didn't go anyw T here to Sabbath School, be- 
cause their parents would not let them. This gentleman 
said : 

"I wish you would go round and see them." 

I went, and I found that the parents lived in a drink- 
ing saloon, and that the father kept the bar. I stepped 
up to him and told him what I wanted, and he said he 
would rather have his sons become drunkards and his 
daughter a harlot than have them go to our schools. It 
looked pretty dark, and he was very bitter to me, but 
I went a second time, thinking that I might catch him 
in a better humor. He ordered me out again. I went a 
third time and found him in better humor. He said: 

"You are talking too much about the Bible. I will 
tell you what I will do ; if you teach them something 
reasonable, like 'Paine's Age of Reason,' they may go." 

Then I talked further to him, and finally he said: 
"If you will read Paine's book, I will read the New Tes- 
tament." 

Well, to get hold of him I promised, and he got the 
best of the bargain. We exchanged books, and that 
gave me a chance to call again and talk with that family. 

One day he said: "Young man, you have talked so 
much about church, now you can have a church down 
here." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Why, I will invite some friends, and you can come 
down here and preach to them; not that I believe a word 
you say, but I do it to see if it will do us chaps any good. " 

"Very well," I said; "now let us have it distinctly 
understood that we are to have a certain definite time." 



86 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

He told me to come at n o'clock, saying, " I want you 
to understand that you are not to do all the preaching." 

"How is that?" 

"I shall want to talk some, and also my friends." 

I said, " Supposing we have it understood that you are 
to have forty-five minutes and I fifteen; is that fair?" 

He thought that was fair. He was to have the first 
forty-five, and I the last fifteen minutes. I went down, 
and the saloonkeeper wasn't there. I thought perhaps he 
had backed out, but I found the reason was that he had 
found that his saloon was not large enough to hold ail 
his friends, and he had gone to a neighbor's, whither I 
went and found two rooms filled. There were atheists, 
infidels and scoffers there. I had taken a little boy with 
me, thinking he might aid me. The moment I got in 
they plied me with all sorts of questions, but I said I 
hadn't come to hold any discussion; that they had been 
discussing for years and had reached no conclusion. 
They took up the forty-five minutes of time talking, and 
the result was there were no two who could agree. 

Then came my turn. I said: "We always open our 
meetings with prayer; let us pray." I prayed, and 
thought perhaps some one else would pray before I got 
through. After I finished the little boy prayed. I wish 
you could have heard him. He prayed to God to have 
mercy upon those men who were talking so against His 
beloved Son. His voice sounded more like an angel's 
than a human voice. After we got up, I was going to 
speak, but there was not a dry eye in the assembly. One 
after another went out, and the old man I had been after 
for months — and sometimes it looked pretty dark — came 
and, putting his hands on my shoulder with tears stream- 
ing down his face, said: 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 87 

"Mr. Moody, you can have my children go to your 
Sunday School." 

The next Sunday they came, and after a few months 
the oldest boy, a promising young man then in the high 
school, came upon the platform; and with his chin quiv- 
ering and the tears in his eyes, said: "I wish to ask 
these people to pray for me; I want to become a Chris- 
tian." 

God heard and answered our prayers for him. In all 
my acquaintances I don't know of a man whom it seemed 
more hopeless to reach. I believe if we lay ourselves 
out for the work there is not a man but can be reached 
and saved. I don't care who he is, if we go in the name 
of our Master, and persevere until we succeed, it will 
not be long before Christ will bless us, no matter how 
hard their heart is. "We shall reap if we faint not." 

Faith Little, but God Great 

A Scotch woman was once introduced as "Mrs. , 

a woman of great faith." 

"No," she said, "I am a woman of little faith, but 
with a great God." 

The Echo 

You may have heard of the boy whose home was in 
a wood. One day he thought he heard the voice of 
another boy not far off. He shouted, "Hallo, there!" 
and the voice shouted back, "Hallo, there!" He did 
not know that it was the echo of his own voice, and he 
shouted again: "You are a mean boy!" Again the cry 
came back, "You are a mean boy!" 

After some more of the same kind of thing he went 
into the house and told his mother that there was a bad 



88 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

boy in the wood. His mother, who understood how it 
was, said to him: 

"Oh, no! You speak kindly to him, and see if he 
does not speak kindly to you." 

He went to the wood again and shouted; "Hallo, 
there!" "Hallo, there!" "You are a good boy. " Of 
course the reply came, "You are a good boy." "I love 
you." "I love you," said the other voice. 

This little story explains the secret of the whole thing. 
Some of you perhaps think you have bad and disgreeable 
neighbors; most likely the trouble is with yourself. If 
you love your neighbors they will love you. Love 
begets love. 

He Took the Prince at His Word 

It is recorded in history that some years ago a man 
was condemned to be put to death. When he came to 
lay his head on the block, the prince who had charge of 
the execution asked him if there was any one petition 
that he could grant him. All that the condemned man 
asked for was a glass of water. They went and got him 
a tumbler of water, but his hand trembled so that he 
could not get it to his mouth. 

The prince said to him, "Your life is safe until you 
drink that water. " 

He took the prince at his word, and dashed the 
water to the ground. They could not gather it up, and 
so he saved his life. My friend, you can be saved now 
by taking God at His Word. The water of life is offered 
to "whosoever- will. " Take it now, and live. 

Another Kind of Pardon 

During the war a boy in Pennsylvania was condemned 
to death. The boy expected to be pardoned and was 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 8 9 

resting upon that hope. The papers were full of state- 
ments that Governor Curtin would pardon the boy. One 
day Governor Curtin met Mr. George H. Stuart, the 
noted philanthropist, on the street, and said: 

"Stuart, you know this boy who is sentenced to death. 
He is entertaining a hope that I am going to pardon 
him, and I can't do it. Now, go and tell him." 

Mr. Stuart afterward told me that it was the hardest 
duty he had ever performed, but it was an act of mercy. 
When he entered the cell the prisoner rushed to him 
and cried : 

"Mr. Stuart, you are a good man; I know you bring 
me a pardon." 

Mr. Stuart knew not what to answer, but he sum- 
moned courage and told the boy the truth. The boy 
fell in a faint at Mr. Stuart's feet when he found his false 
hope taken away, but it prepared the way to tell him 
where alone a true and lasting hope might be found. 

Drawing Daily 

A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the 
future than he can eat enough to-day to last him for the 
next six months; or take sufficient air into his lungs at 
once to sustain life for a week to come. We must draw 
upon God's boundless stores of grace from day to day, 
as we need it. 

"For Charlie's Sake" 
In Detroit at a convention Judge Olds was present as 
a delegate from Columbus. One evening he was telling 
about the mighty power Christians summon to their aid 
in this petition "for Christ's sake!" "in Jesus' name!" 
and he told a story that made a great impression on me. 



9 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

When the war came on, he said, his only son left for the 
army, and he became suddenly interested in soldiers. 
Every soldier that passed by brought his son to remem- 
brance; he could see his son in him. He went to work 
for soldiers. When a sick soldier came there to Colum- 
bus one day, so weak he couldn't walk, the judge took 
him in a carriage, and got him into the Soldiers' Home. 
Soon he became president of the Soldiers' Home in 
Columbus, and used to go down every day and spend 
hours in looking after those soldiers, and seeing that 
they had every comfort. He spent on them a great deal 
of time and a great deal of money. 

One day he said to his wife: "I'm giving too much 
time to these soldiers. I've got to stop it. There's an 
important case coming on in court, and I've got to 
attend to my own business." 

He said he went down to the office that morning, 
resolved in future to let the soldiers alone. He went to 
his desk, and then to writing. Pretty soon the door 
opened, and he saw a soldier hobble slowly in. He 
started at sight of him. The man was fumbling at some- 
thing in his breast, and pretty soon he got out an old 
soiled paper. The father saw it was his own son's writ- 
ing. 

"Dear Father: — This young man belongs to my company. 
He has lost his leg and his health in defense of his country, and 
he is going home to his mother to die. If he calls on you, treat 
him kindly, For Charlie's Sake." 

"For Charlie's sake." The moment he saw that, a 
pang went to his heart. He sent for a carriage, lifted 
the maimed soldier in, drove home, put him into Charlie's 
room, sent for the family physician, kept him in the 
family and treated him like his own son. When the 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS gi 

young soldier got well enough to go to the train to go 
home to his mother, he took him to the railway station, 
put him in the nicest, most comfortable place in the car- 
riage, and sent him on his way. 

"I did it," said the old judge, "for Charlie's sake." 
Now, whatsoever you do, my friends, do it for the 
Lord Jesus' sake. Do and ask everything in the name 
of Him "who loved us and gave Himself for us." 

No Warmth in this Subject 

During the time of slavery, a slave was preaching 
with great power. His master heard of it, and sent for 
him, and said: 

"I understand you are preaching?" 

"Yes," said the slave. 

"Well, now," said the master, "I will give you all 
the time you need, and I want you to prepare a sermon 
on the Ten Commandments, and to bear down especially 
on stealing, because there is a great deal of stealing on 
the plantation. " 

The slave's countenance fell at once. He said he 
wouldn't like to do that; there wasn't the warmth in 
that subject there was in others. 

I have noticed that people are satisfied when you 
preach about the sins of the patriarchs, but they don't 
like it when you touch upon the sins of to-day. 

About Forgiveness 

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright- 
eousness. " That is the difference between a believer 
and a non-believer. If we have confessed our sins, it is 
distrusting God not to believe that they are put away. 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



Suppose that I have a little boy, and when I go home 
he comes to me and says: "Papa, I did that naughty 
thing you told me not to do." 

I see there are signs of contrition, and say: "I am 
sorry you did it, but I am thankful you confessed it. I 
forgive you." 

He goes off lightly. He has been forgiven. But the 
next day he comes and says: 

"Papa, do you know that yesterday while you were 
away I did that naughty thing that you told me not to 
do. I am very sorry. Won't you forgive me?" 

I say, "My son, was not that forgiven yesterday?" 

"Well," he says, "I wish you would forgive me 
again." 

Don't you see how dishonoring it is? It is very dis- 
heartening to a father to have a child act in that way. 
And it is distrusting God, and dishonoring Him for us to 
be constantly lugging up the past. If God has forgiven 
us, that is the end of it. "Who will lay anything to the 
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." If 
God has justified me, will He lay any charge against me? 
But, dear friend, if you are not already forgiven, do not 
sleep until you are. Have this question of sin forever 
settled for time and eternity. God wants to forgive 
you, and He will, if you will confess your sins and ask 
His pardon. 

Not Ashamed of It 

There is a story told of Carey, the great missionary, 
that he was invited by the Governor-General of India to 
go to a dinner party at which were some military officers 
belonging to the aristocracy, and who looked down upon 
missionaries with scorn and contempt. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



93 



One of these officers said at the table: "I believe 
that Carey was a shoemaker, wasn't he, before he took 
up the profession of a missionary?" 

Mr. Carey spoke up and said: "Oh, no, I was only 
a cobbler. I could mend shoes, and w T asn't ashamed of 
it." 

Out of the Poorhouse 

A few year ago, I was going away to preach one Sun- 
day morning, when a young man drove up in front of 
us. He had an aged woman with him. 

"Who is that young man?" I asked. 

"Do you see that beautiful meadow?" said my friend, 
i4 a::d that land there with the house upon it?" 

"Yes." 

"His father drank that all up," said he; and he went 
on to tell me all about him. His father was a great 
drunkard, squandered his property, died and left his wife 
in the poorhouse. "And that young man is one of the 
finest young men I ever knew. He has toiled hard and 
earned money, and bought back the land; he has taken 
his mother out of the poorhouse, and now he is taking 
her to church. " 

I thought, that is an illustration for me. The first 
Adam in Eden sold us for naught, but the Messiah, the 
second Adam, came and bought us back again. The 
first Adam brought us to the poorhouse, as it were; the 
second Adam makes us kings and priests unto God. 
That is redemption. We get in Christ all that Adam 
lost, and more. Men look on the blood of Christ with 
scorn and contempt, but the time is coming when the 
blood of Christ will be worth more than all the kingdoms 
of the world. 



9 4 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



"The Precious Blood." 

A lady came to me once when I was preaching some 
years ago in a western city, and asked me if I wouldn't 
talk to her husband; that when she spoke to him on 
religion he paid no attention, and she might as well talk 
to a post. I told her she had better pray God to con- 
vince and convict him. 

They used to come to the meetings together, and 
often as I was speaking I would see her eyes close and 
her lips move, and I knew she was praying God to con- 
vict him. They came about a dozen times during the 
winter. 

One night, after he had taken his seat, I noticed that 
his eyes looked as if he had been weeping. I gave out 
one hymn after another, all bearing on the Atonement, 
as that was the subject for the sermon. When I gave 
out the text, "The precious blood," I saw him cover his 
face and bow his head, and he fairly wept aloud. He 
followed me into the inquiry room after the meeting was 
over, and said to me: 

' 'Mr. Moody, this has been the most extraordinary 
day in my life. When I got up this morning the words 
'Precious blood' came into my mind. When I went 
down town to my place of business the words 'Precious 
blood' were ringing in my mind, and all during the day 
it was 'Precious blood, precious blood.' They followed 
me here to-night, and when you gave out your text, 'The 
precious blood/' I could hardly stay in my seat. I 'can't 
understand it." 

"Well," I said, "I can"; and after talking with him 
for a while he accepted Christ then and there. 

He is now dead, but when I was passing through that 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 95 

city years after I asked about him, and they told me 
in all the years he had lived he had never lost his hold 
on Christ. 

The Indians Could Understand That 
Eternal life — there is no end to it! It is life without 
end. The government was trying to make a treaty 
with the Indians, and in one place put in the word 4 ' for- 
ever/' The Indians did not like that word, and said: 

44 No; put it, 'As long as water runs and grass 
grows/ " 

They could understand that. "The wages of sin is 
death; but the gift of God is eternal life." 

Lots of People Like Him 

A friend of mine told me some years ago that his wife 
was very fond of painting, but that for a long time he 
never could see any beauty in her paintings; they all 
looked like a daub to him. One day his eyes troubled 
him, and he went to see an oculist. The man looked in 
amazement at him, arid said: 

"You have what we call a short eye and a long eye, 
and that makes everything a blur." 

He gave him some glasses that just fitted him, and 
then he could see clearly. Then he understood why it 
was that his wife was so carried away with art, and he 
went and built an art gallery, and filled it full of beauti- 
ful things, because everything looked so beautiful after 
he had had his eyes straightened out. 

Now there are lots of people that have a long eye and 
a short eye, and they make miserable work of their 
Christian life. They keep one eye on the eternal city 
and the other eye on the well-watered plains of Sodom, 
and they have no happiness and enjoyment in either. 



9 6 ANECDOTES, INXIDENTS 

Sincerity v. Truth 

Some people tell you it makes no difference what you 
believe, if you are only sincere. I have heard lots of 
people say, "You do not think it makes any difference 
what a man's creed is, do you, if he is only sincere? 
The disciples of Mahomet and Confucius are all right if 
they are only sincere." 

That is the biggest lie that ever came out of hell. A 
lie never lifted any one yet. It is the truth that makes 
us free, and it is that which we want to believe. A lie 
does a man no good simply because he is sincere. 

Suppose that I present a check for $10,000 at some 
bank, and the cashier says: 

"Have you any money in this bank?" 

"I say, 'No.' 
•"Well," he says, "why are you trying to draw this 
money?" 

I answer, "Well, I am very si?icere about it, and I 
want $10,000 very much; I don't think any man wants 
it more than I do. " 

My earnestness will not get me that money. Some 
people get hold of a lie, and hold on to it. If you are 
wise, my friend, you will look and see if you believe the 
truth or not. 

She Would Prefer Me 

If my wife were in a foreign country, and I had a 
beautiful mansion all ready for her, she would a good 
deal rather I should come and bring her to it than to 
have me send some one else to bring her. Christ has 
prepared a mansion for His bride, the Church, and He 
promises for our joy and comfort that He will come 
Himself and bring us to the place He has been all this 
while preparing. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



97 



You Must Have Both 

I believe in a faith that you can see, a living, work- 
ing faith that prompts to action. Faith without works 
is like a man putting all his money into the foundation 
of a house; and works without faith is like building a 
house on sand without any foundation. 

You often hear people say: "The root of the matter 
is in him." What would you say if I had a garden and 
nothing but roots in it? Suppose I hire two men to set 
out some trees, and at night I go to see how they are 
getting on. I find that one has set out a hundred trees, 
and the other only ten. The first man says to me: 

"Look at my trees! Don't they look as well as that 
man's, and he has set out only ten?" 

I say to the other: "How's this?" 

"Well," he says, "wait a short time, and you will see 
how it is. That man doesn't believe in roots, and he 
has cut off the little roots and stuck the trees in like 
sticks. I have set out ten trees, roots and all." 

What roots are to the tree, faith is to the child of 
God. If we are to have eternal life, if we are to bear 
fruit, we must be rooted and grounded in Christ Jesus. 

It Becomes New 

When I was in Baltimore last, my window looked out 
on an Episcopal Church. The stained glass windows 
were dull and uninviting by day, but when the lights 
shone through at night, how beautiful they were! 

So when the Holy Spirit touches the eyes of your 
understanding, and you see Christ shining through the 
pages of the Bible, it becomes a new book to you. 



9 8 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Calling the Roll of Heaven 

A soldier, woulided during our last war, lay dying in 
his cot. Suddenly the deathlike stillness of the room 
was broken by the cry, "Here! Here!" which burst 
from the lips of the dying man. Friends rushed to the 
spot and asked what he wanted. 

"Hark," he said, "they are calling the roll of heaven, 
and I am answering to my name." 

In a few moments once more he whispered, "Here!" 
and passed into the presence of the King. 

The Light of Nature 
"Men strike their knives into the Bible, and say the 
light of nature is sufficient. Indeed! Have the fire- 
worshippers of India, cutting themselves until blood 
spurts at every pore — have they found the light of nature 
sufficient? Has the Bornesian cannibal, gnawing the 
roasted flesh from human bones — has he found the light 
of nature sufficient? Has the Chinese woman, w T ith her 
foot cramped and deformed into a hoof — has she found 
the light of nature sufficient? Could the ancients see 
heaven from the heights of Ida or Olympus? No! I 
call upon the pagodas of superstition, the tortures of 
Brahma, the infanticide of the Ganges, the bloody wheels 
of the Juggernaut, to prove that the light of nature is no J 
sufficient. A star is beautiful, but it pours no light into 
the midnight darkness of a sinful soul. The flower is 
sweet, but it exudes no balm for the heart's wound." — 
[Talmage.] . 

A Good Word for the Devil 

A child once said to his mother, "Mamma, you never 
speak ill of any one. You would speak well of Satan." 

"Well," said the mother, "you might imitate his per- 
severance." 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



99 



A Perfect Farce! 
Professor Drummond once described a man going into 
one of our after-meetings and saying he wanted to 
become a Christian. 

44 Well, my friend, what is the trouble?" 

He doesn't like to tell. He is greatly agitated. 
Finally he says, 44 The fact is, I have overdrawn my 
account" — a polite way of saying he has been stealing. 

44 Did you take your employer's money?" 

' 4 Yes." 

"How much?" 

44 I don't know. I never kept account of it." 

4 'Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last year?" 

44 I am afraid it is that much." 

44 Now, look here, sir, I don't believe in sudden 
work; don't steal more than a thousand dollars this 
next year, and the next year not more than five hundred, 
and in the course of the next few years you will get so 
that you won't steal any. If your employer catches you, 
tell him you are being converted; and you will get so 
that you won't steal any by and by." 

My friends, the thing is a perfect farce ! 44 Let him 
that stole, steal no more," that is what the Bible says. 
It is right about face. 

Take another illustration. Here comes a man, and 
he admits that he gets drunk every week. That man 
comes to a meeting, and wants to be converted. Shall I 
say, i4 Don't you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the 
work gradually. Don't you get drunk and knock your 
wife down more than once a month?" Wouldn't it be 
refreshing to his wife to go a whole month without being 
knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a 
year! Wouldn't she be glad to have him converted in 



IOO ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

this new way! Only get drunk after a few years on the 
anniversary of your wedding, and at Christmas, and then 
it will be effective because it is gradual! 

Oh! I detest all that kind of teaching. Let us go to 
the Bible and see what that old Book teaches. Let us 
believe it, and go and act as if we believed it, too. Sal- 
vation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be 
converted so that he cannot tell when he crossed the 
line between death and life, but I also believe a man 
may be a thief one moment and a saint the next. I 
believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, 
and be saved the next. 

Christian growth is gradual, just -as physical growth 
is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life 
quick as an act of the will— "He that believeth on the 
Son hath everlasting life." 

What Does He Want Most? 

What does the hungry man want? Money? Not at 
all. Fame? No. Good clothes? Not a bit. He wants 
food. What does the thirsty man want? Reputation? 
Bonds and stocks? No! he wants water. When we are 
dead in earnest and want the bread of heaven and the 
water of life, we shall not stop till we get them. 

"Give Him a Cheer!" 

You have heard the story of the child who was res- 
cued from the fire that was raging in a house away up in 
the fourth story. The child came to the window, and 
as the flames were shooting up higher and higher it cried 
out for help. A fireman started up the ladder of the fire- 
escape to rescue the child from its dangerous position. 
The wind swept the flames near him, and it was getting 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS IOI 

so hot that he wavered, and it looked as if he would 
have to return without the child. Thousands looked on, 
and their hearts quaked at the thought of the child hav- 
ing to perish in the fire, as it must do if the fireman did 
not reach it. Some one in the crowd cried : . 

1 * Give him a cheer!" 

Cheer after cheer went up, and as the man heard 
them he gathered fresh courage. Up he went into the 
midst of the smoke and the fire, and brought down the 
child in safety. 

If you cannot go and rescue the perishing yourself, 
you can at least pray for those who do, and cheer them 
on. If you do, the Lord will bless the effort. Do not 
grumble and criticise; it takes neither heart nor brains 
to do that. 

Bankrupt Sinners are Scarce 

Very few people think they are lost. You seldom 
meet a bankrupt sinner. Most of them think they can 
pay about seventy-five cents on the dollar; some ninety- 
nine per cent — they just come short a little, and the 
Almighty will make it up somehow. 

Don't let Satan make you think you are so good that 
you don't need the grace of God. We are a bad lot, all 
of us. 

Are You Sure ? 

After John Wesley had been preaching for some time, 
some one said to him, "Are you sure, Mr. Wesley, of 
your salvation?" 

"Well," he answered, "Jesus Christ died for the 
whole world." 

"Yes, we all believe that; but are you sure that you 
are saved?" 



102 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



Wesley replied that he was sure that provision had 
been made for his salvation. 

k 'But are you sure, Wesley, that you are saved?" 

It went like an arrow to his heart, and he had no rest 
or power until that question was settled. 

Many men and many women go on month after 
month, and year after year, without power, because 
they do not know their standing in Christ; they are not 
sure of their own footing for eternity. Latimer wrote 
Ridley once that when he was settled and steadfast 
about his own salvation he was as bold as a lion, but if 
that hope became eclipsed he was fearful and afraid and 
was disqualified for service. Many are disqualified for 
service because they are continually doubting their own 
salvation. 

No Hypocrites in Heaven, Anyway! 

"I won't become a Christian because of hypocrites in 
the churches." My friend, you will find very few there 
if you get to heaven. There won't be a hypocrite in the 
next w T orld, and if you don't want to be associated with 
hypocrites in the next w T orld, you will take this invita- 
tion. You find hypocrites everywhere! One of the 
apostles was himself the very prince of hypocrites, but 
he didn't get to heaven. You will find plenty of hypo- 
crites in the church. They have been there for the last 
nineteen hundred years, and will probably remain there. 
But what is that to you? This is an individual matter 
between you and your God. 

We Cannot Deceive God 
The merchant's measure may be wrong, but God's 
measure is just and right. The merchant measures a 
gallon of oil or a pound of tea, and does not give full 
measure. God says to the recording angel: 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



103 



44 So many drops too few; so many grains short. 
Write it down. 

We may cheat man, but we cannot cheat God. 

How the Grumbler Was Cured 

Some years ago, a pastor of a little church in a small 
town became exceedingly discouraged, and brooded over 
his trials to such an extent that he became an inveterate 
grumbler. He found fault with his brethren because he 
imagined they did not treat him well. A brother min- 
ister was invited to assist him a few days in a special 
service. At the close of the Sabbath morning service 
our unhappy brother invited the minister to his house 
to dinner. W T hile they were waiting alone in the parlor 
he began his doleful story by saying: 

"You have no idea of my troubles; and one of the 
greatest is that my brethren in the church treat me very 
badly." 

The other propounded the following questions: 

"Did they ever spit in your face?" 

"No; they haven't come to that." 

"Did they ever smite you?" 

"No." 

"Did they ever crown you with thorns?" 

This last question he could not answer, but bowed his 
head thoughtfully. The other replied: 

"Your Master and mine was thus treated, and all His 
disciples fled and left Him in the hands of the wicked. 
Yet He opened not His mouth." 

The effect of this conversation was wonderful. Both 
ministers bowed in prayer and earnestly sought to pos- 
sess the mind which was in Christ Jesus. During the ten 
days' meetings the discontented pastor became wonder- 



104 



ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 



fully changed. He labored and prayed with his friend, 
and many souls were brought to Christ. 

Some weeks after, a deacon of the church wrote and 
said: "Your late visit and conversation with our pastor 
have had a wonderful influence for good. We never hear 
him complain now, and he labors more prayerfully and 
zealously." 

No Anxiety 

Dr. Watts could say, "I bless God I can lie down 
with comfort to-night, not being anxious whether I wake , 
in this world or in another." 

"Are All the Children In!" 

Some one sent me a paper a number of years ago con- 
taining an article that was marked. Its title was: "Are 
all the children in?" An old wife lay dying. She was 
nearly one hundred years of age, and the husband who 
had taken the journey with her, sat by her side. She 
was just breathing faintly, but suddenly she revived, 
opened her eyes, and said: 

4 'Why! it is dark." 

"Yes, Janet, it is dark." 

"Is it night?" 

"Oh, yes! it is midnight." 

"Are all the children in?" 

There was that old mother living life over again. 
Her youngest child had been in the grave twenty years, 
but she was traveling back into the old days, and she 
fell asleep in Christ, asking: 

"Are all the children in?" 

Dear friend, are they all in? Put the question to 
yourself now. Is John in? Is James in? Or is he 
immersed in business and pleasure? Is he living a 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



">5 



double and dishonest life? Say! where is your boy, 
mother? Where is your son, your daughter? Is it well 
with your children? Can you say it is? 

High Level Every Time 

When I was in London I wanted to go to the Crystal 
Palace. When I went to buy my railway ticket the 
agent asked; "High level or low level?" Without 
thinking or knowing what he meant, I said: 

"Low level." 

When we got out at the grounds they landed us away 

down in a hollow, and I had to climb about 250 steep 

steps. When I got to the top, all out of breath, I saw 

that if I had taken the high level, it would have landed 

me right in the palace. I've taken the "high level" ever 

since. 

All Invited 

A lady told me once that she was so hard-hearted she 
couldn't come to Christ, 

"Well," I said, "my good woman, it doesn't say 'all 
ye soft-hearted people come. ' Black hearts, vile hearts, 
hard hearts, soft hearts, all hearts come. Who can 
soften your hard heart but Himself?" 

He Was Insincere 

Some years ago I went into a man's house, and when 
I commenced to talk about religion he turned to his 
daughter and said: 

"You had better leave the room. I want to say a 
few words to Mr. Moody." 

When she had gone, he opened a perfect torrent of 
infidelity upon me. 

"Why did you send your daughter out of the room 
before you said this?" I asked. 



106 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

"Well," he replied, "I did not think it would do her 
any good to hear what I said." 

Is his rock as our Rock? Would he have sent his 
daughter out if he really believed what he said? 

"Dinna Ye Hear Them?" 

During the Indian mutiny, the English were besieged 
in the city of Lucknow, and were in momentary expec- 
tation of .perishing at the hands of the fiends that sur- 
rounded them. A little Scotch lassie was in this fort, 
and, while lying on the ground, she suddenly shouted, 
her face aglow with joy: 

"Dinna ye hear them comin'? dinna ye hear them 
comin'?" 

"Hear what?" they asked. 

"Dinna ye hear them comin'?" 

She sprang to her feet. It was the bagpipes of her 
native Scotland she heard. It was a native air she heard 
that was being played by a regiment of her countrymen 
marching to the relief of those captives, and these deliv- 
erers made them free. 

Oh, friend, don't you hear the voice of Jesus Christ 
calling to you now? 

A Good Definition 

A Christian workingman, being asked by what means 
he kept walking in the paths of obedience, replied: 

"Well, I came to the Saviour; He received Me; and 
I never said v 'good-bye.' " 

In his Drawingroom 

There was a young man in the middle west who had 
been more or less interested about his soul's salvation. 
One afternooon, in his office, he said; 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 107 

"I will accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." 

He went home and told his wife,, who was a nominal 
professor of religion, that he had made up his mind to 
serve Christ, and he added: 

"After supper to-night I am going to take the com- 
pany into the drawing-room and erect the family altar." 

"Well," said his wife, "you know some of the gentle- 
men who are coming to tea are skeptics, and they are 
older than you are, and don't you think you had better 
wait until after they have gone, or else go out in the 
kitchen and have your first prayer with the servants?" 

The young man thought for a few moments, and then 
he said : 

"I have asked Jesus Christ into my house for the first 
time, and I shall take Him into the best room, and not 
into the kitchen. " 

So he called his friends into the drawing-room. 
There was a little sneering, but he read and prayed. 
That man afterward became Chief Justice of the United 
States Court. 

Never be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; it is the 
power of God unto salvation. 

Don't Give it Up 

If you have a good excuse, don't give it up for any- 
thing I have said; don't give it up for anything your 
mother may have said; don't give it up for anything 
your friend may have said. Take it up to the bar of 
God and state it to Him. But if you have not got a 
good excuse — an excuse that will stand in eternity — let 
it go now and flee to the arms of a loving Savior. 



io8 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

The Life Beyond 

There is a little book entitled "The Life Beyond" 
that presents the truth of the resurrection in a wonder- 
ful manner. It is an allegory, and pretends to give the 
experiences of a little dragon fly grub. The little insect 
longs to know what is beyond the sphere of its little 
w r orld. In vain it inquires of the fish that live in the 
same pond, but they have no experience in any other 
sphere, nor can any of its fellows satisfy its anxious 
yearning. The "only world it knows is a little meadow 
pond; all its experience is limited by the bounds of the 
surrounding banks. 

At length the grub is overcome by a strange attraction 
upward, and gathering about it all its fellows it tells that 
it must leave them for the regions above, and promises 
to return to tell them what it has found to exist in the 
beyond, if, indeed, there may be anything above the 
bulrushes of their little pond. And then quietly it dis- 
appears from the sight of its fellows and emerges into 
the bright sunlight of the greater world. Here it is 
transformed, and with outstretched wings it darts hither 
and thither reflecting the brightness of the sun from its 
gorgeous body. But it does not forget the promises it 
has made to the friends it has left below. It tries to 
return to the world from which it has just risen, but 
cannot leave the atmosphere in which it lives. All it can 
do is to wait for them to come to where it now lives, a 
beautiful dragon fly. 

And thus it is with those who have disappeared from 
our sight. Their love for us may not be lessened be- 
cause they are not able to commune with us, but they 
are waiting in the presence of the Master for that glorious 
moment when in resurrected bodies they shall unite once 
more with us whom they have loved on earth. 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



109 



Man's Idea of Grace 

Men talk about grace, but, as a rule, they know very 
little about it. Let a business man go to one of your 
bankers to borrow a few hundred dollars for sixty or 
ninety days; if he is well able to pay, the banker will 
perhaps lend him the money if he can get another 
responsible man to sign the note with him. They give 
what they call "three days' grace' ' after the sixty or 
ninety days have expired; but they will make the bor- 
rower pay interest on the money during these three days, 
and if he does not return principal and interest at the 
appointed time, they will sell his goods; they will per- 
haps turn him out of his house, and take the last piece 
of furniture in his possession. 

That is not grace at all; but that fairly illustrates 
man's idea of it. Grace not only frees you from pay- 
ment of the interest, but of the principal also. The 
grace of God frees us from the penalty of our sin without 
any payment on our part. Christ has paid the debt, and 
all we have to do is to believe on Him for our salvation. 

Across the River 

A minister who had lost his child asked another minis- 
ter to come and preach for him. He came and told how 
he lived on one side of a river, and felt very little inter- 
est in the people on the other side until his daughter was 
married and went over there to live. Then every morn- 
ing he went to the window and looked over that river, 
and felt very much concerned about that town and all 
the people there. 

"Now," said he, "I think that as this child has 
crossed another river, heaven will be dearer to my friend 
than ever it has been before." 



no ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

A Difference in the Singing 

I was in a town in the north of Scotland a good 
many years ago, where they sang nothing but the Psalms. 
They had a church that held the whole town of about 
two thousand five hundred people, and I think I never 
heard the Twenty-third Psalm sung as they sang it — 
4 'The Lord's my shepherd. " It was grand singing. When 
I finished, preaching, I said: 

"I never heard the Twenty-third Psalm sung so well, 
and I wonder how many sang it from the heart. I 
should like to have all who can sing it from the heart 
rise and. sing it again." 

I never heard it sung so poorly. I do not think there 
were fifty people on their feet. It is one thing to sing, 
4 'The Lord is my shepherd," and it is another thing to 
believe it. Is the Lord really your shepherd? 

They all Black-balled him 

There was a sailor whose mother had long been pray- 
ing for him. One night the memory of his mother came 
home to this man; he thought of the days of his child- 
hood, and made up his mind he would try and lead a 
different life. When he got to New York he thought he 
would join the Odd Fellows; he imagined that would be 
a good way to begin. What miserable mistakes men 
make when they get trying to save themselves! This 
man applied to a lodge of Odd Fellows for admission ; 
but the committee found that he was a drinking man, 
and so they black-balled him. Then he thought he would 
try the Free Masons; they discovered what sort of a 
man he was, and they black-balled him, too. 

One day he was walking along Fulton street, when 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS IT1 

he received an invitation to come to the daily prayer- 
meeting held there. He went in, and heard about the 
Savior; he received Christ into his heart, and found the 
peace and power he wanted. Some days after he stood 
up in the meeting and told his story — how the Odd Fel- 
lows had black-balled him; how the Free Masons had 
black-balled him; and how he came to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who had not black-balled him, but took him 
right in. 

That is what Christ will do to every penitent sinner. 
4 'This Man receivetb sinners." Come to Him to-day, 
and He will receive you; His marvelous, sovereign grace 
will cover and put away all your sins. 

She Made a Mistake 

Doctor Arnot was accustomed to tell a story of a poor 
woman who was in great distress because she could not 
pay her landlord his rent. The doctor put some money 
in his pocket, and went round to her house, intending 
to help her. When he got there he knocked at the door. 
He thought he heard some movement inside; but no 
one came to open the door. He knocked louder and 
louder still; but yet no one came. Finally he kicked at 
the door, causing some of the neighbors to look out and 
see what was going on, but he could get no entrance. 
At last he went away, thinking his ears must have 
deceived him, and that there was really no one there. 

A day or two afterward he met the woman in the 
street, and told her what had happened. She held up 
her hands and exclaimed: 

ki Was that you? I was in the house all the while; 
but I thought it was the landlord, and I had the door 
locked!" 



H2 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

Many people think the grace of God is coming to 
smite them. My dear friends, it is coming to pay all 
your debts! 

A Tragic Ending 

At one place where I went to hold meetings it was 
advertised in the papers that I was going to stay thirty 
days. Now, there was a lady who was a member of one 
of the churches, and she said: 

"I don't want to have my boy brought unde,r the 
influence of those meetings. I'm afraid he'll be brought 
into the Young Men's Christian Association, and they'll 
have him out on the streets with tracts, and it would be 
very mortifying to me to have my son doing such a thing 
as that." 

She was ambitious for her boy, and wanted to get him 
into the bon-ton society, as they call it. So she planned 
to take her son out of the city, and to be gone for those 
thirty days. She told her pastor why she had taken him, 
but I knew nothing about it. 

The meetings went on, and just at my right hand sat 
that minister, from the beginning till the end, until the 
last meeting, when he was absent. Just as the benedic- 
tion was pronounced, and the people were about to leave, 
he came rushing in, and said he was so sorry he had not 
been there. 

Cl l have just been called on one of the saddest errands 
of my life," he said, and went on to tell me that that 
mother who had taken her son away from the influence 
of those meetings had brought him back that day in his 
coffin, and he had just come from the funeral. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 113 



A Temple of the Holy Ghost 

Some men were burying an aged saint some time ago, 
and he was very poor, like many of God's people, poor 
in this world, but very rich in the other world, and they 
were just hastening him off to the grave, wanting to get 
rid of him, when an old minister, who was officiating at 
the grave, said : 

"Tread softly, for you are carrying a temple of the 
Holy Ghost/' 

Whenever you see a believer, you see a temple of the 
Holy Ghost. 

Polybius' Opinion 

Polybius says that whereas man is held to be the wis- 
est of all creatures, to him he seems to be the most fool- 
ish. Where other creatures have smarted, they will 
come no more; the fox returns not to tfre snare, nor the 
wolf to the pitfall. But man returns to the same sins, 
and will not take warning until he is utterly ruined. 

This Young Man Made a Mistake 
In 1872, when I was coming back from Europe, there 
were a number of ministers on board. A young man 
"who had evidently crossed several times before and knew 
the captain, stepped up to him, and in a loud tone of 
voice, intending doubtless to insult some of the minis- 
ters, said he was sorry he had taken passage on the boat, 
as it would be unlucky to travel with so many parsons. 
.The captain was himself a pretty rough fellow, and turn- 
ing to him he said: 

"If you'll show me a town in England where there 
are five thousand people and not one parson, I'll show 
you a place a mile nearer hell than ever you've been." 



II 4 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

The young man slunk away. I'd like to take all these 
people who do not believe in these things and put them 
on an island by themselves. Why, they'd sink the first 
boat that touched there in their efforts to get on board 
and get away! 

" Sowing the Tares" 
I was at the Paris Exhibition in 1867, and I noticed 
there a little oil painting, only about a foot square, and 
the face was the most hideous I have ever seen. On 
the paper attached to the painting were the words "Sow- 
ing the Tares." The face looked more like a demon's 
than a man's. As he sowed these tares, up came serpents 
and reptiles, and they were crawling up his body, and all 
around were woods with wolves and animals prowling in 
them. I have seen that picture many times since. Ah! 
the reaping time is coming. If you sow to the flesh you 
must reap corruption. 

Turning on the Searchlight 
When I was going through the land of Goshen in 
Egypt, a few years ago, as I came near the city of Alex- 
andria, I saw the strangest sight I had ever seen. The 
heavens were lit up with a new kind of light, and there 
seemed to be flash after flash; I couldn't understand it. 
I had heard that the Khedive had died, and that a new 
Khedive was coming into power. I found later that 
England had sent over some war vessels, and the moment 
that darkness came on they had turned their search- 
lights upon that city; it was almost as light as noonday. 
Every street was lit up, and I do not suppose that ten 
men could have met in any part of Alexandria without 
being discovered by that searchlight. 

May God turn His searchlight upon us, and see if 
there be any evil way in us ! 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



"5 



Debts All Paid 

Justification puts a man before God as if he had never 
sinned. God looks in His ledger, and says: 

"Moody, your debts have all been paid by Another; 
there is nothing against you!" 

She Didn't Know their Value 

A poor old widow, living in the Scottish Highlands, 
was called upon one day by a gentleman who had heard 
that she was in need. The old lady complained of her 
condition, and remarked that her son was in Australia 
and doing well. 

"But does he do nothing to help you?" inquired the 
visitor. 

"No, nothing, " was the reply. "He writes me regu- 
larly once a month, but only sends me a little picture, 
with his letter. " 

The gentleman asked to see one of the pictures that 
she had received, and found each one of them to be a 
draft for ten pounds. 

That is the condition of many of God's children. He 
has given us many "exceeding great and precious prom- 
ises," w r hich we either are ignorant of or fail to appro- 
priate. Many of them seem to be pretty pictures of an 
ideal peace and rest, but are not appropriated as prac- 
tical helps in daily life. And not one of these promises 
is more neglected than the assurance of salvation. An 
open Bible places them within reach of all, and we may 
appropriate the blessing which such a knowledge brings. 

They Did Not Heed the Signal 
I was in the north of England in 1881, when a fearful 
storm swept over that part of the country. A friend of 
mine, who was a minister at Eyemouth, had a great 



Ii6 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

many of the fishermen of the place in his congregation. 
It had been very stormy weather, and the fishermen had 
been detained in the harbor for a week. One day, how- 
ever, the sun shone out in a clear blue sky; it seemed as 
if the storm had passed away, and the boats started out 
for the fishing-ground. Forty-one boats left the harbor 
that day. Before they started, the harbor-master 
hoisted the storm signal, and warned them of th© coming 
tempest. He begged of them not to go; but they dis- 
regarded his warning, and away they went. They saw 
no sign of the coming storm. In a few hours, however, 
it swept down on that coast, and very few of those fisher- 
men returned. There were five or six men in each boat, 
and nearly all were lost in that dreadful gale. In the 
church of which my friend was pastor, I believe there 
were three male members left. 

Those men were ushered into eternity because they 
did not give heed to the warning. I lift up the storm- 
signal now, and warn you to escape from the coming 
judgment! 

Reaped as He Sowed 

A leading surgeon performed a critical operation be- 
fore his class one day. The operation was successful, 
as far as his part was concerned. But he turned to the 
class and said: 

44 Six years ago a wise way of living might have pre- 
vented this disease. Two years ago a safe and simple 
operation might have cured it. We have done our best 
today'as the 'case now stands, but Nature will have her 
word to say. She does not always repeal her capital 
sentences. " 

Next day the patient died, reaping the fruit of his 
excesses. 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



117 



"Ye Are My Witnesses" 

A friend of mine in Philadelphia was going by a drink- 
ing saloon one night, and he saw in that saloon a pro- 
fessed Christian playing cards. He took a pencil, wrote 
on a card, and saw a little boy and said: 

4 'My boy, here is some money. I want you to do an 
errand for me. You see that man on the side of the 
table where those three are, playing cards with them?" 

"Yes, I do." 

"Well," said my friend, "take that card to him." 

The boy went in, and my friend watched the man 
when this card was handed to him. What was written 
on the card was, "Ye are my witnesses." The man 
took the card, looked at it, sprang to his feet, and rush- 
ing out into the street asked the boy where the card 
came from. The boy said: 

"A man over there gave it to me." 
But the man had slipped away. "Ye are my wit- 
nesses." Wherever you find a professed Christian going 
in bad company, you may look for something worse. 

"I Died Trusting in Jesus !" 

After the terrible battle of Pittsburgh Landing, we 
were taking the wounded down the Tennessee river to 
hospital. I said to some of the Christian Commission 
workers who were with me: 

"We must not let a man die on this boat without tel- 
ling him of Christ and heaven." 

You know the cry of a wounded man is "Water! 
water!" As we passed along from one to another giv- 
ing them water, we tried to tell them of the water of 
life, of which if they would drink they would never die. 
I came to one man who had about as fine a face as I ever 



n8 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

saw. I spoke to him, but he did not answer. I went 
to the doctor, and said: 

"Doctor, do you think that man will recover?' ' 

44 No; he lost so much blood before we got him off 
the field that he fainted while we were amputating his 
leg. He will never recover." 

I said: "I can't find out his name, and it seems a 
pity to let him die without knowing who he is. Don't 
you think we can bring him to?" 

"You may give him a little brandy and water," said 
the doctor; "that will revive him if anything will." 

I sat down beside him, and gave him brandy and 
water every now and then. ' While I was waiting, I said 
to a man near by : 

"Do you know this man?" 

"Oh, yes; that is my chum." 

"Has he a father and mother living?" 

"He has a widowed mother." 

"Has he any brothers or sisters?" 

"Two sisters; but he is the only son." 

"What is his name?" 

"William Clark." 

I said to myself that I could not let him die without 
getting a message for that mother. Presently he opened 
his eyes, and I said: 

"William, do you know where you are?" 

He looked around a little dazed, and then said: "Oh, 
yes; I am on my way home to mother." 

"Yes, you are on your way home," I said; "but the 
doctor says you won't reach your earthly home. I 
thought I'd like to ask you if you had any message for 
your mother." 

His face lighted up with an unearthly glow, as he 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS 1 1 9 

said: kk Oh, yes; tell my mother that I died trusting in 
Jesus!" 

It was one of the sweetest things I ever heard in my 
life! 

Presently I said: "Anything else, William?" 

With a beautiful smile he said: "Tell my mother and 
sisters to be sure to meet me in heaven" ; and he closed 
his eyes. 

He was soon unconscious again, and in a few hours 
his soul took its flight to join his Lord and Master. 

Ruling by Love 

In the little country district where I went to school 
there were two parties. One party said that boys could not 
possibly be controlled without the cane, and they kept a 
schoolmaster who acted on their plan; the other party 
said they should be controlled by love. The struggle 
went on, and at last, on one election day, the first party 
was put out, and the other ruled in their stead. I hap- 
pened to be at the school at that time, and we said to 
each other that we were going to have a grand time that 
winter. There would be no more corporeal punishment, 
and we were going to be ruled by love. 

The new teacher was a lady, and she opened the 
school with prayer. We hadn't seen it done before, and 
we were impressed, especially when she prayed that she 
might have grace and strength to rule the school with 
love. The school went on for several weeks, and we 
saw no rattan. 

I was one of the first to break the rules of the school. 
The teacher asked me to stay behind. I thought the 
cane was coming out again, and I was in a fighting 
mood. She took me alone. She sat down and began 



120 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

to talk to me kindly. That was worse than the cane; 
I did not like it. She said : 

"I have made up my mind that if I cannot control 
the school by love, I will give it up. I will have no pun- 
ishment. If you love me, try to keep the rules of the 
school." 

I felt something right here in my throat, and never 
gave her any more trouble. She just put me under 
grace. Arid that is what God does. God is love, and 
He wants us all to love Him. 

Free pr Not Free ? 

When Miss Smiley went down South to teach, she 
went to a hotel and found everything covered with dirt. 
The tables were dirty, dishes dirty, beds were dirty. She 
called an old colored woman who was in the house, and 
said: 

"how, you know that the Northern people set you at 
liberty. I came from the North, and I don't like dirt; 
so I want you to clean the house." 

The old colored woman set to work, and it seemed 
as if she did more work in that half day than she had 
done in a month before. When the lady got back the 
colored woman came to her and said: 

"Now, is I free or ben't I not? When I go to my old 
massa he says I ain't free, and when I go to my own 
people they say I is, and I don't know whether I'se free 
or not. Some people told me Abraham Lincoln signed 
a proclamation, but massa says he didn't; he hadn't any 
right to." 

So Christian people go along, not knowing whether 
they are free or not. When they have been born of the 
Spirit they are as free as air. Christ came for that 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS I 21 

purpose, to free us from the guilt and power of sin. He 
didn't come to set us free and then leave us in servitude. 
He came to give us liberty now and forever. 

The Haughty Infidel's Challenge 
In the town of Hanover, in Germany, I am told that 
there is buried a German countess who denied the exist- 
ence of God and ridiculed the idea of the resurrection. 
To show her contempt for Christianity she ordered that 
on her death her grave should be built of solid masonry 
and covered by large stones bound together by iron 
clamps. On this tomb was engraved her defiant chal- 
lenge that through eternity this tomb should never be 
disturbed. 

One day a seed from some tree, either blown by the 
wind or carried by a bird, became lodged in a small 
crevice of. the tomb, where soon it sprouted and began 
to grow. And then, as if Nature mocked the haughty 
infidel, she quietly extended the delicate roots of that 
seedling under the massive blocks of stone and slowly 
raised them from their place. . Although scarce four gen- 
erations are passed since that tomb was- sealed, that 
most insignificant seedling has accomplished what God 
Himself was challenged to accomplish. 

Short-lived Esteem 
Seventeen years ago I was in Paris at the time of the 
Great Exhibition. Napoleon the Third was then in his 
glory. Cheer after cheer would rise up as he drove 
along the streets of the city. A few short years and he 
fell from his lofty estate. He died an exile from his 
country and his throne, and where is his name to-day? 
Very few think about him at all, and if his name is men- 
tioned it is not with love and esteem. 



122 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

How empty and short-lived are the glory and the 
pride of this world ! If we are wise we will live for God 
and eternity; we will get outside of ourselves, and will 
care nothing for the honor and glory of this world. 

God is Not Dead 

The story is told that Frederick Douglass, the great 
slave orator, once said in a mournful speech when things 
looked dark for his race: 

44 The white man is against us, governments are 
against us, the spirit of the times is against us. I see 
no hope for the colored race. I am full of sadness." 

Just then a poor old colored woman rose in the audi- 
ence, and said: 

"Frederick, is God dead?" 

Now, many a young believer is discouraged and dis- 
heartened when he realizes this warfare. He begins to 
think that God has forsaken him, that Christianity is not 
ail that it professes to be. But he should rather regard 
it as an encouraging sign. No sooner has a soul 
escaped from his snare than the great Adversary takes 
steps to ensnare it again. He puts forth all his powers 
to recapture his lost prey. The fiercest attacks are 
made on the strongest forts, and the fiercer the battle 
the young believer is called on to wage, the surer evi- 
dence it is of the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. 
God will not desert him in his time of need. 

It Cost Him His Soul 

"What is the value of this estate?" said a gentleman 
to another, as they passed a fine mansion surrounded by 
fair and fertile fields, 



AND ILLUSTRATIONS 123 

"I don't know what it is valued at; I know what it 
cost its late possessor." 
"How much?" 
"His soul." 

John Wesley's Two Questions 

John Wesley used to ask his young men whom he had 
sent out to preach on probation two questions: "Has 
any one been converted?" and "Did any one get mad?" 
If the answer was "No," he told them he did not think 
the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel, and sent 
them about their business. When the Holy Ghost con- 
victs of sin, people are either converted or they don't like 
it, and get mad. 

4 * Seek First the Kingdom of God" 

When I was a young boy, before I was a Christian, I 
was in a field one day with a man who was hoeing. He 
was weeping, and he told me a strange story, which I 
have never forgotten. When he left home his mother 
gave him this text: "Seek first the kingdom of God." 
But he paid no heed to it. He said when he got settled 
in life, and his ambition to get money was gratified, it 
would be time enough then to seek the kingdom of God. 
He went from one village to another, and got nothing 
to do. When Sunday came he went into a village church, 
and what was his great surprise to hear the minister give 
out the text, "Seek first the kingdom of God." The 
text went down to the bottom of his heart. He thought 
that it was but his mother's prayer following him, and 
that some one must have written to that minister about 
him. He felt very uncomfortable, and when the meeting 
was over he could not get that sermon out of his mind. 



124 ANECDOTES, INCIDENTS 

He went away from that town, and at the end of a 
week went into another church, and he heard the minis- 
ter give out the same text, "Seek first the kingdom of 
God." He felt sure this time that it w T as the prayers 
of his mother, but he said calmly and deliberately: 

"No; I will first get wealthy." 

He said he went on, and did not go into a church for 
a few months, but the first place of worship he went into 
he heard a third minister preaching a sermon from the 
same text. He tried to stifle his feelings, to get the 
sermon out of his mind, and resolved that he would keep 
aw T ay from church altogether, and for a few years did 
keep out of God's house. 

"My mother died," he said, "and the text kept com- 
ing up in my mind, and I said I will try to become a 
Christian." The tears rolled down his cheeks as he 
continued: "I could not; no sermon ever touches me; 
my heart is as hard as that stone," pointing to one in 
the field. 

I couldn't understand what it was all about; it was 
fresh to me then. Soon after I went to Boston and was 
converted, and the first thought that came to me was 
about this man. When I got back, I asked my mother: 

"Is Mr. L living in such a place?" 

"Didn't I write to you about him?" she asked; "they 
have taken him to an insane asylum, and to every one 
who goes there he points with his finger up there and 
tells him to 'Seek first the Kingdom of God.' ' 

There was that man with his eyes dull with the loss 
of reason, but the text had sunk into his soul — it had 
burned down deep. Oh, may the Spirit of God burn the 
text into your heart now! 

When I got home again my mother told me he was in 






AND ILLUSTRATIONS ^5 

her house, and I went to see him. I found him in a 
rocking-chair, with that vacant, idiotic look upon him. 
Whenever he saw me he pointed at me and said: 
" Young man, seek first the kingdom of God." Reason 
was gone, but the text was there. 

The Swan and the Crane 

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A 
beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in 
which a crane was wading about seeking snails. For a 
few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder 
and then inquired: 

"Where do you come from?" 

4l I come from heaven!" replied the swan. 

"And where is heaven?" asked the crane. 

"Heaven!" said the swan, "Heaven! have you never 
heard of heaven?" And the beautiful bird went on to 
describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of 
streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious 
stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose 
banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of 
the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to 
describe the hosts who live in the other world, but with- 
out arousing the slightest interest on the part of the 
crane. 

Finally the crane asked: "Are there any snails 
there?" 

"Snails!" repeated the swan; "no! Of course there 
are not." 

"Then," said the crane, as it continued its search 
along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your 
heaven. I want snails!" 

This fable has a deep truth underlying it. How many 



I 2 6 ANECDOTE J^CmENTS 



a young person to whom God has granted the advan- 
tages of a Christian home, has turned his back upon it 
and searched for snails! How many a man will sacrifice 
his wife, his family, his all, for the snails of sin! How 
many a girl has deliberately turned from the love of 
parents and home to learn too late that heaven has been 
forfeited for snails! 



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